The Granger Coven
by chahn32
Summary: At a party before her 6th Year Daphne came across an unpleasant surprise in dealing with the Wizengamot. With the help of our favorite Muggleborn scholar she tries to turn a disaster into something positive. And sometimes the best laid plans fall apart. Because the blood of the covenant is thicker than the waters of the womb.
1. Party At Malfoy Manor

**A/N:**

 **First fanfic, so it's gonna be rough. I have some clue where I want this to go but no idea if it will actually make it there or not. Probably will be cut short as to prevent random sidetracks that doomed my first ever story. So round one here we go.**

 **A/N 2:**

 **If I owned any of the content you recognize I wouldn't be going to school. As I am still in school, I own nothing. And probably never will.**

 _ **Chapter 1: Party At Malfoy Manor**_

Malfoy Manor:

Daphne let her eyes wander across the guests mingling in the main ballroom as she tried to find people she knew. She loathed these kind of parties, people where to uptight about appearances to give up any good information. Plus, she was expected to behave a certain way in order to prevent bringing shame to the Greengrass name. She saw her father talking to the Nott patriarch off to one side. Probably about a marriage contract for me, she thought cynically.

Politically speaking Theo wouldn't be a horrible husband, his family was well connected with agricultural production, and he had some sense of subtlety and brains. Theo was behind the Potter Stinks badges in fourth year, and he had some sense of subtlety and brains. Theo was behind the Potter Stinks badges in fourth year, even let Draco take credit for them publicly, no sense getting a Champion, maligned as he was, mad at you. Potter had a long feud with Draco beforehand so wouldn't think anything of him doing the badges. No, Nott wasn't a bad choice, unless it was a marriage to Theo's father, but that would never happen, too big of an age gap, it would seem like her father just wanted t0 get rid of her. And that was not a good move for either side.

Daphne thought she was more than capable of being valuable outside of an arranged marriage, but nobody asked her opinion on the matter. Hopefully whoever she ended up marrying would see that. She didn't have high hopes for Malfoy though. Seriously, one of the infamous Black sisters reduced to little more than eye candy? And Draco is so set on being a spitting image of his father. Seeing Lady Malfoy walking around exchanging pleasantries, she approached the older witch. Daphne had heard stories of the three Black sisters during her time in Slytherin, Bellatrix's hexing of a perverted Hufflepuff still had the Badgers looking over their shoulders when discussing girls to this day. And the fight they got into after Andromeda announced she was marrying the muggleborn solicitor? She had seen the damage that was left in the common room walls. "Good evening Lady Malfoy" Daphne greeted the host of tonight's party.

"Well hello Miss Greengrass. Your summer is going well I trust?"

"Yes ma'am. I am currently looking forward to receiving my OWL scores"

Lady Malfoy nodded, "Yes I'm sure you did well on them. I know Draco has been anticipating their arrival. He's quite proud of his work in Defense and Potions" Daphne smiled at that. It was an open secret that Professor Snape was quite liberal in his tutoring in those subjects.

"As he should be, I must confess that I am worried about my score in Defense however. With all the turnover it is quite a challenge to be prepared"

"What did you think of Professor Umbridge this year?" Mrs. Malfoy inquired, looking curious.

"To be honest I think she was unqualified to teach the subject. Her work as High Inquisitor was excellent, but to be honest I learnt more from the fraud Lockheart than her. I would have liked to see her take over History, with an Auror, or someone given the Defense Job" not the most politically correct response, but an honest one.

"Was it truly that bad? Draco seemed less than impressed, but he was like that for everyone, except Moody, terrible business with Crouch"

"Honestly, yes. In my opinion her mission to improve the Ministry's position at Hogwarts would have been better suited to the History job, as there she could highlight all the Ministry has done and paint muggles in as worse a light as possible. As it was she made the Ministry seem incompetent and alienated three fourths of the school. Additionally, I had to blackmail that mudblood Granger into tutoring me so I could have a chance to pass the Defense exam"

"And how was that? Draco tells me she is insufferable"

Daphne smiled knowingly "She can be, if you let her get her feet under her. Keep her off balance. And she is delightful to watch sputter and try her hand at comebacks It doesn't hurt that she knows what she's talking about. It's a shame who her parents are. She could be quite the asset, still could be if people weren't so blinded by blood purity"

"Are you saying that the mudblood might be good for something? That Purebloods aren't superior?"

"No, Purebloods are still by in large more skilled than the average mudblood. Granger is not average. She has a knack for problem solving I have never seen before and an outsider's perspective that could prove beneficial, if we can dissuade her from some of her more, shall we say radical ideas." Mrs. Malfoy looked thoughtful at that.

"I take it you are already trying to take her in under your cloak? Do you think you can keep her under control?"

"Yes I am trying to bring her in, but with people like her it is less control and more direction away from sensitive issues"

"Hmm" she said, not quite approving of her answer "well, I wish you the best in dealing with such an uncultured girl"

"Thank you milady" Daphne replied as they went their separate ways. She had not gotten more than a few steps away before she was intercepted by Susan Bones and Pansy Parkinson. They both had serious looks on their faces.

"We need to talk, meet up on the balcony." Susan said before sweeping off to talk to Millicent. Shrugging Daphne meandered her way up to the secluded balcony overlooking the dance floor. There were a few pairs talking business, but otherwise it was a fine spot for a private conversation. She saw where Susan, Pansy, Lilly Moon, Millicent, Hannah Abbot and Lisa Turpin where talking quietly.

"Good, you're here. That's everyone. So ladies, we have a problem." Pansy started. Everyone keyed into the conversation at that point.

"Yes, I overheard Nott and Malfoy Senior discussing a bill that they wanted to push through the Wizengamot. A coven bill" Susan said. The ladies where taken aback by this. Covens had been looked down upon as craven for close to 200 years. Why would anybody be talking about a bill regulating covens when the last coven went extinct over 75 years ago.

"However coven is just a polite cover, think sex slave harem for a more accurate picture of what they want put in place" Pansy continued.

"The Fuck!" Lilly swore, face turning a livid red. The rest mirrored her sentiments.

"Do they really think this will pass?" Lisa asked, "I know most of the Wizengamot is male, but still they do have daughters right?"

"More likely they think this will be a good way to shack up certain families under a more respectable guise. Would these be actual covens, governed by Coven Rule, or paper covens?" Daphne asked.

"Legit covens, but the rules proposed for Ministry formed covens would be so skewed it wouldn't matter much" Susan replied. "To be honest I think our best shot would be to form our own covens before that happened. They think it will pass the September session. Definitely not before then though. We have time, but not much"

"So we're all going to form a Coven?" Hannah asked.

"Well, maybe more than one. I don't think I could stand being in a coven with Pansy, no offense" Susan replied.

"Ok, so are these six plus one covens, or what?" Millicent asked.

"Six plus one is a pretty standard starting coven. We just would need to get them registered before the law passes, which looks to me to be a pretty sure thing. We would need someone official to witness the formation ritual, and I don't think Dumbledore would go for it. He's not a big fan of blood magic" Pansy answered. They all nodded at this, agreeing to see what they could do to protect themselves in the face of the coming change.

They all agreed that this was an idiotic move, shaking the foundations of their society, but at the same time, it was the Traditionalists that where pushing the law through. They must be seeing this as their last gasp to stay on power after Voldemort showed himself at the Ministry. Daphne knew it was rumored that many Traditionalist stalwarts, such as Malfoy, had barely managed to escape from there in Death Eater regalia ahead of the Aurors snapping at their heels. Daphne shuddered to think about what they might do to Hogwarts, as they still had a respectable presence on the Board, even after Malfoy was removed.

"Hey, Susan" Daphne caught up with the girl as they broke up "Your Aunt would be willing to witness right?"

"Hey Daph, she should be, contingent on her agreeing to let me join. You have any ideas on who you would join up with?"

"I have a name or two, nothing solid yet, you?"

"Same. I was thinking about Hannah, but Pansy has got her teeth into her pretty good and I can hardly stand the girl. Padma and Su Li from Ravenclaw would be another two that I would consider"

"Nobody else from Hufflepuff? I thought you Badgers stuck together?"

"We do normally, things have been tense since Cedric died and tempers are starting to get frayed. I hung out in the library most of last year"

"That sucks. What do you think of Tracey and Granger?"

"Haven't really talked to either. Hermione needs to get off her high horse, but this may be a good thing for her. I hope that five of us can reign her in. Tracey strikes me as a snarky malcontent"

"So no on either of them"

"Eh better than going with Pansy. Hermione was helpful during the DA last year, more patient than she was with Ron or Harry. Tracey seems like someone who either would be a lot of fun or trouble with a capital T"

"So, willing to go in with me? I don't really care the two you ask, I'm pulling Granger and Tracey"

Susan shrugged "Give me a week to think on it. Right now I'm leaning yes but don't want to commit. We still would need to figure out the guy. And sorry I am vetoing any Slytherins. Bunch of prats."

"Too true. Gryffindor isn't much better, but at least Longbottom would be easy to mold"

"Or Potter. Hermione has him pretty whipped from what I hear. And they aren't even dating."

"Still hardheaded and stubborn"

"That's a prerequisite for Lions"

"We'll see. I will admit that having the Potter name wouldn't really hurt any coven, just have to make sure he knows this isn't some fantasy harem situation, and if he wants to keep his balls he'll treat us right" Daphne admitted after a pregnant pause.

"Everyone is always saying he's too noble for his own good"

"Maybe, still not my first choice."

"I'll give you that. Right now I'm leaning towards Ernie, but I'm not sure he is right either. Honestly none of the guys inspire confidence. Think Pansy will tap Draco?"

"She'll try. The other five will veto though, even if they are all Slytherin. Draco is known as too much of a Daddy'd Boy for most of the girls there"

"Ok, hopefully I can keep on good terms with Hannah, cause it would be awkward for our friendship to come to an end because of this."

"I wish you the best. I'll get in touch with my choices after this gets over" Daphne replied. They exchanged well wishes as they parted ways. She traded a few brief words with Pansy as they agreed that both of them in a coven would not work. Pansy had a more segregationist view on muggleborns than Daphne. Daphne thought that if they had talent it should be put to work for the Pureblood elite. They had long ago agreed to disagree on the issue of how best to deal with them and being in the same coven would lead to conflict that was less than conducive to success.

Daphne's relationship with Pansy could be described as civil. Even in socially isolated Slytherin they rarely ran in the same circles. The Inquisitorial Squad last year was as an aberration. Both shared a basic political outlook and goals, but their respective ideas on how to get there lead to disagreements. It didn't help that Pansy looked down on Tracey because she was a half-blood, while Daphne valued her as an adviser and confidant. It often paid to have an adviser from the lower social classes. Hermione was how she hoped to fill that role for the muggleborns.

The party dragged on interminably after that bit of excitement. Daphne filled her role as heiress with all the poise and grace expected of her, but her mind was elsewhere. She had problems to deal with, and mingling with the upper crust did not lead her to a solution. Nothing got done at these events. It was a time to feel out the crowd, judge the atmosphere surrounding an idea. The vibe she got from this party did not fill her with hope. It looked like Susan and Pansy where right. The Coven Act was the main talk, even more so than what was to happen to Fudge. Of course she also had repeat her spiel about school at least 10 different times to various parties. Small talk was inevitable.

It was a very tired Daphne that exited the floo that night. She bid her parents good night as they retired to their respective rooms. She didn't even glance at the letter from Hermione on her desk. That was all for tomorrow. Now it was time to sleep, and gather her thoughts.


	2. Opening

**A/N: So here is round two of this thing, story if you are feeling particularly generous.**

 **Again,** **If I owned any of the content you recognize I wouldn't be going to school. As I am still in school, I own nothing. And probably never will.**

July 15, 1996: Granger Residence

Summer, the time when resonable students kick back, relax and recover from a stressful school year. By rights Hermione Granger should be realxing. Last year was especially stressful for her, between illicit study groups, to blackmail and threats of torture, one would think she would put all that behind her and just relax. But then that wouldn't be Hermione.

Hermione leaned back in her chair as she finished the last few lines on her letter to Daphne. Absent mindedly she rubbed her chest where faint bruising still lingered from where Dolohov had cursed her. She waited for Daphne's owl, like clockwork showing up at 6:00 every Friday. Hopefully this trip would enable them to write more frequently, and fluidly.

Three parchments sat on her desk, one an ordinary letter, the others charmed to an incredible degree in order to facilitate secure communication between them. Of course the farthest Hermione had tested them was about 100 meters, but still it should work. These two pieces of parchment had cost her countless hours in the last month in the library. These had given her a bigger headache than the Protean charm galleons for the DA last year. Partly because they were more complex, copying ink stains as opposed to Transfiguration, and partly because for the later part she had to get around Ministry regulations.

The Underage Magic office was a pain in the ass. Luckily they were only set up to monitor magic in the area around a young witch's home. Luckily for her the local university was outside that coverage, and she had spent most of her time in the libraries there where no one took notice of just another student cursing over some odd project, or obscure tome. That it was the summer and less students where there was even better. Oh she couldn't do anything flashy, that would attract notice, but she did get in plenty of practice with all manner of privacy charms. It was a pleasant way to spend her time, at least for her anyway.

The product she had now was a workable design, but it lacked many of the privacy features she would have wanted in a secure communications device. Just one more thing to write Daphne about. That girl confused, intruded and infuriated her all at the same time, but she was a better sounding board for ideas than Ron, and her letters to Harry had been unanswered.

She really needed to make more friends. Long hours of study and intense focus may have given her the top ranking in classes five years running but it did nothing but hinder her floundering social life. At least it was better than first year, where she made her first friends because of a bloody troll. The DA had helped a little, but there weren't many people she'd trust with this.

Luna would probably have a solution for her, just it would take her longer to figure out what Luna was suggesting than to come up with her own idea. The girl was smart and perceptive, she just operated on a totally different wavelength than herself. Hermione had taken ¾ of a year to figure that out. No contacting Luna was just not worth the massive headache that came with it.

Padma was another option, she was decent during the DA, but Pravati probably colored her experiences with her too much to really consider it. Plus, she had no way of contacting either of them, making that plan unlikely. With that in mind she sat down to finish composing her weekly letter to the introverted pureblood heiress.

 _ **Daphne;**_

 _ **I hope this letter finds you well. It has been a busy week for me as I finished the enchantments on the device I hinted at before we left for summer. I have included a prototype of the device with this letter. It is fairly simple to use, just write on it like you would any normal parchment. Be careful to only write on the left side of the device. The right is for receiving. I am hesitant to include more in this letter as it may be intercepted. A cleaning spell is adequate to reset the device in order to add more to it. If you would happen to know any privacy and misdirection enchantments I would like to hear about them. I have some idea for a desired effect, but again hesitate to say more. Simply put it is a pass word protection where a wrong password has the device respond in a derisive matter. Will answer questions through device, if said device works. I have seen similar protections on other devices and would like to recreate the results. No, I do not have it with me, nor can I retrieve it for further study at this time without raising undue suspicion. Any help would be appreciated.**_

 _ **On another note, your last letter has me strangely confused. I admit that no one has ever actually flirted with me, so I have no personal experience with it, but there was a tone that I would describe as flirting in your last letter. I sincerely hope that this is not a joke or prank, you know my opinion of the Weasley twins. I am still a little nervous about our relationship, these letters are helping, but 4 ½ years of prejudice and antagonism just doesn't vanish overnight. Granted you aren't one of Malfoy's cronies, but the Inquisitorial Squad didn't help either. Overall I'm confused on how I'm feeling about you and wondering if you can help put some clarity back in our interactions. I like you, but at time you can be just as infuriating as Ron. Ok maybe that was a little harsh, but still, you have this easy confidence about you that I like, but at the same time it's like you look down on me as well for who I am and who my parents are. In any case let's just say that thinking about you leaves me a confused emotional mess. Not that you would expect anything else from some brash Gryffindor.**_

 _ **Finally, before I finish up I have to ask if you have heard anything in regards to what is going on at the Ministry or Wizengamot. Because of my situation I have no contacts who could tell me, and am particularly vulnerable to the old codgers. Any heads up would be appreciated.**_

 _ **Regards, Hermione**_

Laying her pen down Hermione thought back to how she had got into this mess. Luckily Ron had bought her excuse of going to the Library when she was meeting with Daphne, he would not have liked one of his best friends to be meeting with a snake. Blackmail and bribery, what a way to start a friendship. That was what got her into the room the first time with Daphne.

Apparently Umbridge was a sufficiently bad teacher that even her favorites needed help in her class. Daphne had laughed at her idea to have Harry teach her, saying Hermione was smarter and Harry took after Ron too much. She couldn't argue with that too much so she had reluctantly agreed to help the Slytherin. Their first meetings where stressful, to say the least, whenever wands where drawn both parties tensed as they expected a hex from the other.

Finally, they both had had enough and spent one evening playing Gobstones and Exploding Snap. That seemed to break the tension between them somewhat, although Hermione wasn't convinced that the result was entirely a good thing. They had gotten comfortable with each other, but at time Daphne could be a little too comfortable with her for her liking. Daphne had even swung by and visited her while she was in the Hospital Wing, under the cover of trying to find out what Harry and his friends where up to of course. She even timed it for dinner time, so that they were the only ones in the wing.

Daphne wasn't quite ready to have a public friendship with the muggleborn teen just yet. Her last letter had mentioned that she was feeling out the social climate of Slytherin House right now to see if they were totally blinded by blood or if they could recognize the advantages of talent, wherever said talent came from. Hermione wasn't optimistic. Sure she had talent to spare, she had heard the other calling her the brightest witch of her age behind her back when they thought she couldn't hear them. And if she was honest with herself, she was one of the smartest. But her people skills where distinctly lacking.

And those where the skills she needed in order to carve out her niche in the world. Blood mattered less if the person was likeable, if not blood was all that was left. She had come a long way from the bossy bushy haired bookworm of First Year, but she was still pushy and convinced of her own intellect and reasoning. She still didn't know why she let Harry take the lead so much, was she really a masochist?

Did she like the adrenaline high Harry's crazy stunts caused. Probably, if she was honest with herself. Add to that Harry was dogged in his determination and the fact that he as stubborn as she was smart, and yeah Harry got his way.

She knew her faults, many as they were. Pride was chief among them, flowing from a certain arrogance that permeated her youth. Hogwarts had done its best to squash the arrogance from her, with the Stone, Basilisk, Dementors, and so on, but the pride that was its root still clung on. That pride was why she pushed herself so hard, took so much offense at people looking down on her parentage, because her parents where a part of who she was.

Daphne had helped to focus that pride, and resulting anger, but it was still an issue. An issue she was going to have to work through if she wanted to truly be the brightest witch in her age. Ahead lay a lot of work, 5 years spent ignoring or brushing off almost all of the school left a bitter taste, but her new goals required that she be more than the bossy Gryffindor bookworm they saw her as.

It was as much a part of her persona as Daphne's legendary Ice Queen act. Coping mechanisms of socially stunted youths unsure of themselves but to afraid, prideful or arrogant to admit to it. She let out a sigh as the enormity of her task hit her, she needed a plan, but that could wait until tomorrow as tonight she needed to deal with the Daphne Situation.

She knew her parents where decently progressive about sexuality, confirmed by some of the adult magazines she had found under their bed, she almost broke the Underage Magic Act to give herself a Lockhart Special after that. Seriously no 14-year-old should see that stuff.

But talking to her parents about this wasn't high on her list of fun things at the moment, hell she wasn't even sure if the feeling was mutual, real, imaginary or anything. Figuring out what she felt about Daphne was first, then came talking to Daphne about said feelings, and then maybe involve her parents. That is if her parents didn't pick up on her troubles first. They were remarkably perceptive about these things. Hopefully they would also perceive that she didn't want to talk about it at the moment.

She scanned the horizon outside her window as she thought, eyes seeing, but not comprehending. It was a perfectly normal skyline, the kind the Dursley's would appreciate. Her mind going at a breakneck pace, roiling waves of emotion churning inside her.

Books and cleverness. Books and cleverness was all she had in the end. And like she said to Harry back at the end of first year, as he prepared to pass through the cursed fire to get the Stone, there were more important things. Friendship and bravery. She scoffed to herself, facing down monsters that no child should know about she was fine, trapped in her own head it all came crashing down around her.

She had to be better at the other two, for herself. To prove, if only to herself that she was something more than test scores. That she actually mattered.

She was broken from her musings by the sharp hoot of Daphne's owl. The stern, regal looking black bird fixed it's disapproving golden eyes on her as she flinched from the unexpected noise. Quickly sealing up the letters in an envelope, she exchanged the letter from Daphne for her own. No sooner had she done so than the bird gave another disgruntled hoot and took off again.

Hermione watched the bird fly off in the distance, dumbly holding the letter she received. It was in response to her previous letter, so held none of the answers she sought at this time. But still it would help, or hurt, she didn't know. With only one way to find out she opened the letter.


	3. The Magical Collection

**A/N: Round three here we go. And Finals suck.**

 **Again,** **If I owned any of the content you recognize I wouldn't be going to school. As I am still in school, I own nothing. And probably never will.**

Granger Residence 22 July 1996:

Hermione awoke to find the parchment filled with Daphne's handwriting. Or at least she assumed it was Daphne's. Daphne usually had neat, precise script, no mistaking what she wrote. This however was more frantic, nervous even. And that was before the actual words sunk in.

Covens? There hadn't been a coven formed in England since the 18th century. And mandatory entry? What the bloody hell was the Wizengamot thinking with this farce. Hermione sat the message down on her desk, mind whirling as she tried to make sense of what was going on. Step one, gather more information. She picked up a quill, unfortunately fountain pens didn't interact well with the charms, a project for another time though, and replied.

" **Daph, your news concerns me. I'm not sure what they're planning but I doubt it's good. I would be willing to join your coven, subject to knowing who all's in and the charter. I am going to go research covens. Please keep me informed of anything that comes up. -Hermione** "

Hermione packed up her stuff quickly, honed by years of practice, a ritual she did at least twice a day in the Hogwarts library, everything had a place born not so much from a plan but from habit. She stopped to have a quick cup of tea before she left, making her pause and not rush off halfcocked. Her mom noticed her thoughtful expression, and book bag.

"Big plans today honey?" she asked curiously. Hermione had always been an independent child, even if she religiously followed all the rules set down for her.

"I don't know. Don't really have any besides go to the Museum Library and hope to find something useful"

"On what topic?" Usually her daughter had more of a plan than this, and when she didn't it was over something urgent her mom thought.

"Covens" her mom raised an eyebrow, as if to say 'go on'

"Stupid wizard politicians are making noise about covens, even though there hasn't been a coven formed in over a century. I think it would be a good idea to find out what their talking about"

"And you think the British Library would have the answers for you?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I've heard second and third hand stories about them having a magical section, but nothing concrete. But it's the best lead I have for real information. The Hogwarts Library is kinda closed to me right now."

"So I take it you won't be home for dinner?"

"Maybe a late one, or I have no clue. If I don't find anything I'll be home, if I do I'll try. But you know how I am with books" That brought a smile to her mom's face, a trait she shared with her dad.

"Both you and your dad. Be safe honey"

"I will Mom" With that Hermione pick up her bag and headed out.

It took her just over an hour to get to the British Library. She spent that time trying to figure out how the magical section, if it even existed, would be hidden and how to access it. Hopefully not through a stupid phone booth. It would be easy if there was an external entrance, where she didn't have to go inside the main Library. She didn't have a Reader Card and wasn't sure how far she could get in there without one.

If all else fails, play the oblivious student role. Sometimes she wondered if being seen as the genius was such a good idea. At eleven it did, being seen as smart enabled her to stand out, be appreciated by the teachers, now at almost seventeen, animosity had an appeal that she didn't see back then. Just one more mistake she has to fix. But that was a problem for another time. She was pretty naïve back then.

She exited the train at her last stop, pausing briefly to check her mental map of the area, which was decent but not perfect, as she had never been here before. Not that it was easy to miss the library or anything like that.

The massive red brick building stood out in the middle of the more modern glass facades surrounding it. The area was quite on a Sunday, just a few casual tourists milling about, which in some ways worked against her. More people meant less attention paid to any one individual. With so few people around her actions would stick out more, be less lost in the comings and goings of the crowd.

She slowly walked around the building, getting a feel for the area. Nothing major stood out to her, it was for all intents and purposes a perfectly mundane city block. With a sigh she headed into the main lobby. Looking around she was impressed by the decorations, very grand. They gave off a feeling of grand solemnity. Which was good. That meant she could do another, more careful scan and not look to totally out of place.

And there, off to her right, the maintenance door that wasn't for maintenance, hidden behind some of the most ingenious notice me not charms she had encountered. The basic unlocking charm, one spell she made sure she could do, backwards, forwards, in her sleep, and wandless. It was such a mundane and easily overlooked spell, except in muggle environments. Not considered a major threat to the Statute of Secrecy because muggles could mimic it, the Trace was particularly unreliable at picking it up, Hermione suspected someone had sabotaged the monitoring equipment.

So when the nob didn't turn at first, all it took was a whisper and the door clicked open for her. Not lingering in the door way she slipped through. The room did have some basic cleaning equipment, but nothing major. Off to the side was the side entrance to the library.

Hermione stood in the door way for a good long while, soaking in all the admittedly utilitarian views before waling over to the counter. Behind the counter was a young woman that looked vaguely familiar to her, Hermione knew she had seen the woman before, but couldn't quite place where.

"Hello, welcome to the Magical Collection" she said distractedly, before perking up "Oh, hey Hermione. What brings you here?" Katie was her name according to the ever so helpful name badge. Looked to be about five years older than her.

"Hey Katie" Hermione replied hesitantly "Hufflepuff class of 92? Or is that a different Katie?" she asked.

"Nope that's me. What are you doing here? Don't tell me you graduated early"

"No, nothing like that, just wanted to see if the rumors of your existence where correct and maybe get a bit of research done"

"Well, I'm gonna need to see your wand, these reading cards can be a pain to make, especially since they updated the charms to include a wand signature. Do you know how bloody difficult it is to get a clear wand sig?" Katie ranted mildly.

Hermione was taken aback a little bit "Umm, no I don't actually. Never even heard about something like that"

"Well, each wand has a unique signature, you can probably find more in the stacks, but recording a clean enough signature to be able to do anything with it is next to impossible. Oh it's easy to tell magic has been cast, but who cast it? You're lucky if less than 100 wands are possible matches."

"Interesting" Hermione replied.

"Yeah, Ministry wanted to use that as the method for the Trace back in '83 but had to stop after they kept catching Fudge and Moody for underage magic. Fudge hasn't liked the DMLE since then" Katie frowned in concentration, looking at the card.

"So, what are you doing here, last I heard you wanted to get in with the Ministry?"

"No connections and grades didn't stand out. For job in the Ministry that isn't clearly a dead end you need perfect grades or connections. For an actual non dead end job, you need both. And guess who doesn't have the required connection?" Katie explained, pointing a thumb at herself at the last part. She handed Hermione her wand back. "Ok, now I'm gonna need you to cast a coloring charm here. And hopefully this will get a usable reading" The last part was darkly muttered.

Hermione cast a red coloring charm on the library seal that Katie had indicated. The seal pulsed briefly, as if the charm was about to fail, before solidifying into a solid natural red. The seal on the other half of the card pulsed out of phase with the other one before turning a yellowish green. Katie looked at the card before frowning slightly. She passed the card over a detector, which flashed green. She shrugged.

"Ok, looks like it worked well enough. If the color of the opposite side turns yellow you'll need to come back and renew, this should last a year. If not, I'm sure Ms. Pince will let you use the floo to get it renewed."

"Thanks, anything else I should know?"

"Nope, card catalog is off to the right past all the stacks. Desks are on second floor. Have fun"

"Thanks, have a good one" and with that Hermione headed off. Her first stop was the card catalog, trying to get a sense of what all was in the Library.

It was a daunting task. Hogwarts had approximately 10 thousand total books in its library, with about 6 thousand different works. It was an impressive collection, but still it was just a school library, nothing compared to the nearly 1.6 million books in the Magical Collection. Hogwarts censored books that were deemed unsuitable for children, a wise precaution. The Magical Collection had a copy of every book published in Wizarding Britain, and quite a few from other magical nations. The enchanted card catalog was a must.

Hermione started with looking at the modern view on covens, _Dark Ladies, Coven Sisters_ was the most recent, written in 1943. That was really the only one since the early 1800's. Next was _Witches Guild_ for a historical perspective. Those two were her starting point. If need be there where hundreds of books on the actual workings of a coven and the magic associated with a coven. It even appeared to her cursory inspection that nobody had ever looked at these books in over 100 years.

It took literally all of Hermione's will power to stop looking through the catalog and actually get to work. Especially after she stumbled upon the Grimoires section. Merlin wasn't in there, but La Fey was. As where several Potters, Greengrasses and Blacks. This might not have been her best idea.

It got easier once she actually sat down and started reading the books she picked out, although the array of preservation and protection charms on the books made her want to spend the entire day analyzing them.

Hermione suppressed a shudder as she got up from her seat. Ritual magic. That's what covens where known for. It took a blood ritual to from one, historical covens waged war with rituals of immense power.

Morgana La Fey was in a coven. This was political suicide for everyone involved. Covens had a habit of not taking orders from anyone, and the Wizengamot thought they could control an untold number of them? Seven total members, six witches, one wizard, although there have been inverted covens in the past.

She didn't want to think about the depravity of some of the covens highlighted in _Dark Ladies_ , although if she was being brutally honest with herself, which she was trying to be, the Moren coven might have been fun, but only with people she absolutely trusted.

None of her research made it any clearer why the hell people thought mandatory covens where a good idea. Unless the charter. Hermione stopped right then and there. That could be a problem. There were literally no restrictions on what a coven charter had to contain. If the Ministry or whoever managed to just write up a blanket charter in their favor, then things could get bad, like turn a coven into a harem.

"Ah, bloody hell" she swore to herself, pulling out her end of the parchment, wanting to get a message to Daphne. A quick scan revealed no new info from Daphne.

" **Daph, look into who is behind mandatory coven charter. Could turn coven into harem. Or possibly worse** "

Not a minute later the reply came " **No shit? Aren't there checks?"**

" **No checks, charter totally up to coven members. Bets on how many go with standard form, especially if Ministry endorses?"**

" **Too damn many. This sucks. Will we have to follow that charter?"**

" **Nope, we make our own, just takes a blood ritual to bind the charter to the members"**

" **You get the charter; I'll get the members. Objections to Potter as the boy?"** Hermione raised an eye at the suggestion. A Slytherin recommending Harry for something good. There had to be a catch.

" **What's the catch?"**

" **None, he just is powerful and not a total prat"** Hermione thought on that for a minute, it could work, but if that was the only reason a majority of the group put up with him that wouldn't work form a group dynamics view.

" **I'll give him a condition OK, great guy just worried about group dynamics. We need to be careful or this will blow up in our face, most historical covens did"**

" **I'll keep that in mind, hopefully bonding exercises will help. Trying to avoid prats and gits, but who knows how the pieces will fall. Good Luck"** And with that their conversation was over.

The Library was closing down for the day, as Hermione's stomach reminded her she hadn't ate hardly anything the entire day. Grumbling she made her way back to the train station for the hour ride back to Crawley. She was stiff, sore and hungry, but she was used to that.

It seemed that she felt the exact same way most of the weeks leading up to final exams, or whenever something big looked to be happening. It wasn't a good feeling, but when she met her goals the high was worth it, most of the time. It was just days like now that left her drained, with little progress to show for her work that wore on her. It wasn't healthy, she admitted as much to herself, but in the end she did it anyway.

She dragged herself up the path to her house, torn between collapsing on her bed in sleep or getting food. She knew she needed to eat, but exhaustion wore at her. Food won out as she wearily opened the door and proceeded to the kitchen.

"Bad day honey?" her mom asked, concerned. Hermione usually wasn't like this at home. She took the days after finals to recover before the Express left for home.

"I've had worse, but today wasn't really productive"

"Since you missed dinner I take it you found the Library, did it help?

"Some, raised more problems as well though. I managed to get through two books today, not that they helped much" They continued their conversation as Hermione inhaled what was left over from dinner. After finishing, Hermione went immediately to bed, tomorrow she would start again, hopefully getting lunch as well. But honestly that probably wouldn't happen.


	4. Visit to Privite Drive

**A/N: Round four this time.**

 **I am done with classes until August. Hopefully this means more time to write, but I'm not entirely sure that will happen.**

 **Again,** **If I owned any of the content you recognize I wouldn't be going to school. As I am still in school, I own nothing. And probably never will. J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and all associated characters.**

4 Privet Drive: 31 July 1996

Hermione had managed to get some rest last night. Ten days of steady research and writing had taken its toll. Harry would see right through any façade of cheerfulness she put on. He had seen her like this for five years. He would know this wasn't just a meeting for his birthday. It all came down to six names. Daphne had gotten tentative okays from all six. Now came the hard part, convincing number seven. Well then there was also the whole charter business, but that was due in a month, and everyone would be looking over it for things she missed. But Harry, he could throw everything off. Hopefully her tactic works.

She rang the doorbell and waited for a response. Looking around she saw no sign of the Order members who should have been guarding the place, not that she thought they would do much good if Death Eaters really came for Harry. The door opened to the annoying face of Harry's Aunt Petunia.

"What do you want?" she spat, not recognizing Hermione.

"Hello, is Harry home? I have some urgent business I need to discuss with him" Hermione replied pleasantly, as much as she wanted to hex the woman's face off. Dealing with the Dursleys was going to be a bigger pain than she expected.

"You're not one of those freaks are you?" Hermione rolled her eyes. Seriously.

"No ma'am. I'm not a freak. Look, is he home or not. I really am not in the mood to wait around on your doorstep" Hermione's patience was wearing thin.

"He left to go to the park earlier. If you ask me he's causing trouble"

"Thank you" with that Hermione spun around and headed to the local park she saw on the map, hopefully Harry was there. If not her job just got a whole lot harder, especially since she never got a reply to any of her letters. Then again, if she didn't succeed today there was always once they met up at the Burrow, although getting Harry free from Ron without letting rumors start would be hard.

Yeah, everyone thinking she is dating Harry Potter would make things so much better. The park was nothing special, swing set, slide, tetherball, merry go round. The whole area had patchy, brownish grass, giving the area a dilapidated feel, at odds with the neat, precise middle class neighborhood surrounding it. Harry was slowly swinging back and forth on the middle swing, gaze downcast, not really focused on anything.

Hermione studied him intently as she approached. She failed to notice the other group of kids off to the side near a dumpster until the firecrackers went off. Her wand was out, spell slipping off her lips before she consciously reacted. It was only Harry's startled exclamation of her name that short circuited the unknown spell.

She stopped, looked down at her wand in her hand, the too Harry, sheepish, embarrassed smile creeping on her face. Two years ago, heck even two months, she wouldn't have reacted like that. But getting into a running duel through the halls of the seat of power and a teacher employing torture will change a girl.

"Don't worry about those guys, they're part of Dudley's gang, more bark than bite" Harry said, having gotten up off the swing and met her halfway.

"Good, Dudley the large one?" Harry nodded, "Give me a minute" she turned and approached the group of delinquents.

"Hey Big D, check out the bird coming over. She know the Freak?" a lean, angular kid spoke up.

"Ah Dudley, just the man I wanted to see" Hermione said sweetly, cutting off any attempt to reply from Dudley. "Scram" her voice suddenly harsh. They were taken completely off guard at the rapid tone shift. Mustering up what semblance of courage he had Dudley replied,

"Why should we?" Hermione laughed.

"Because I need to have a private conversation with your cousin, and I'd appreciate it if you'd leave" voice confident, Hermione dared them to defy her.

"There's more of us. We're not scared of you freak" one of the kids in the back spoke up, he was perfectly forgettable in his averageness, Hermione mentally called him "Generic White Guy". At that Hermione just smiled, twirling her wand in her hand.

"Well me neither, so are you going to find someone else to annoy, or am I going to have to show why I'm still alive after fighting off a dozen terrorist last month?" It was technically true, no one needs to know about the relative injury state of said parties. She was totally bluffing; she was still too close to Harry's house to get away with magic, and in these close quarters she wasn't sure if she could drive them all off in time. The nervous glances increased.

Hermione channeled Professor McGonagall with her gaze, she guessed it was a 4 on the McGonagall scale, or more commonly the tardy student glare. The glare needed major work. But she had over 30 years of practice on unruly students, Hermione had 3 on her cat, who really could care less. But as pathetic a glare as it was, it worked. The gang moved on elsewhere, albeit with no small measure of grumbling.

"So, I'd give the glare a 2 on the McGonagall scale, you've been practicing. Not that you have the face to glare" Harry quipped as she rejoined him. She fixed him with another glare. "Oh that might be a borderline 3. You're getting better"

"Prat" Hermione replied, playfully punching his shoulder, fighting the urge to chuckle. Harry let out a snort of laughter as his mouth turned up in a smirk.

"What do you expect? You never call, never write…" he trailed off at Hermione's look. "Or have you?"

"You mean you haven't been getting my letters? I sent about one a week, that may be why you never replied"

"I haven't got a letter from anyone, same as last summer. I was starting to think you'd forgotten about little old me" Hermione snorted.

"Forget about you, you're the reason I'm going gray early" They continued the banter for a few more minutes, teasing each other over trivial things, reaffirming to themselves and each other that they were still friends.

"So, on to business. What brings you out to wonderful, scenic Privet Drive?" Harry asked.

"Can't I just want to see my friend?" Hermione asked innocently. "But no really, first off Happy Birthday" she said, pulling out a box of cake. "Secondly, this should fix our letter problem" she said handing him another one of her charmed parchments. "Just write my name, followed by your message and I should get it"

"Do you have an explanation on how it manages that in under ten minutes or should we skip the theory and just trust you on this?" Harry asked playfully.

"Just trust me. It took me 15 to explain to Daphne. Finally, I have a list of names. Think on them, and let me know if there are any irreconcilable problems you have with them. I don't need an answer today, but in the next two weeks" Hermione's no-nonsense tone snapped Harry out of his examination of the parchment. He gave her a questioning look.

"Daphne and I are forming a coven. We want you to be in it. These are the other prospective members" Harry looked warily at her.

"Daphne? What the hell does Daphne have to do with anything. Stupid bint was part of Umbitches I.S." Harry was slightly livid. The playfulness gone from his voice.

"Yes Daphne, she isn't so bad really. Ok, so we got off to a not so great start, with the blackmail and all, but there's a really sweet girl under the cold demeanor" Hermione defended, slightly flustered. She had written to Ginny for advice about her feelings, which she could now categorize as a crush, and thinking too much about her got her flustered.

"You got a crush on her, don't ya Bushy" Harry teased, a grin starting to form again. Maybe Daphne wasn't totally insufferable, Hermione generally was good at judging characters, or rather she wasn't easily fooled into investing time into someone. "Maybe I'll give her a change, just to tease you two"

"Just drop it, okay. I'm still not sure what I feel for her. So you going to take a look at the names Scarhead?"

"Do I have a choice in this?"

"Not really, the Wizengamot looks like it is going to pass a mandatory coven law in September, your choice comes down to who chooses the members of the coven you join"

"Who would choose" Harry asked, already knowing he wouldn't like the answer.

"The Ministry most likely" Harry grimaced, "Yeah, so feedback on those names, or find your own. But I need an answer by the 15th"

"How likely is the bill to pass?" Hermione could see Harry's mind whirling, trying to figure a way out.

"Daphne says over 95%. Support by the Moderates, as well as the Traditionalists. Add in some Light families support the old ways when covens where more prominent, or come from lines with heavy coven influence. They seem to be hammering out timeline, and who is responsible for forming the covens. But no potential deal breakers on the horizon"

"What about Dumbledore?"

"Still trying to regain influence, he's spoken out against the bill but nobody of note has changed position. Might make the vote closer, but not enough to change anything"

"So, in short everyone thinks this is a good idea, and I'm getting screwed" Harry groaned.

"Pretty much, but hopefully you'll be okay with the names there. I will warn you that there are a couple of Slytherins on the list"

"Who?" Harry asked wearily.

"Well, Daphne, you know my feelings about her. Second one is Tracey Davis, snarky little bugger, reminds me of a short female version of you really. Good friends with Daphne" Hermione replied.

"Ok, I'll think about it. I'm not happy about plans being made involving me without me knowing"

"Hey, they haven't been put into action yet, and I did try and contact you about them. Just my deadlines passed and I had to make a Go/No-Go without your input, so don't complain too bad mister"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Bushy. I'll just have to figure out a way to get you back at some point"

Hermione smirked at him "Oh, yeah I'm shaking in my boots. So, know any good places for ice cream?"

Harry's reply died on his lips at the sudden change of topic. "Wait, ice cream?"

"Yeah, you think I just came here to give you a bunch of ruddy paperwork? Come on, you know me better than that"

"That I do, which is why I'm starting to wonder why you haven't asked about homework" Harry replied as they started walking into downtown Little Whining, such as it was, basically one main street with a smattering of shops and restaurants.

"Oh, I figured you had more important stuff to be doing, such as moping, and haven't gotten around to it. Besides, I'm behind as well, what with this coven shit and all" Hermione replied as Harry lead them to a small, cozy ice cream shop at the end of the main stretch. Harry feigned shock, not that it was too difficult.

"Hermione, behind? Be still my beating heart" Hermione slapped his arm muttering about how much of a prat he could be "Now is this Hermione behind, or Harry behind" He asked seriously.

"Hmm, not sure, maybe halfway in between. I actually have no idea where I should be, lost my notes and schedule a week ago" Hermione replied thoughtfully. Harry glared at her.

"Have you been pulling a dead week in the middle of summer Hermione? Without supervision?" Hermione wilted under the glare. After third year Harry and Ron had taken to making sure she didn't go overboard with the amount of work she tried to do. For the most part they were successful in keeping her sane, except the week of final exams. They had taken to calling it dead week because no matter how hard they tried, Hermione always turned into a half dead zombie from pushing too hard.

"Kinda, sorta, maybe" She answered sheepishly "But I've only been going 14 hours a day, not like during a true dead week"

"So, this coven shit the old geezers are pulling really that bad?"

"Not really, I just found a library that makes Hogwarts Library seem small in comparison. And pouring over grimoires of coven witches to try and find out how to make this thing work. Odds are everything falls apart by the time we graduate. If not, then it will probably out live us by a few years at least. And that I have to come up with a satisfactory blood ritual to form the coven"

"Aren't blood rituals dark magic and illegal?" Harry asked, mortified.

"Most are, some aren't, you probably survived Halloween because of a blood ritual your mom did. I'd love to be able to see her grimoires, or journals. She was a muggleborn though so a journal is more likely" Hermione started to drift off on a tangent "But anyway, all know coven forming rituals are blood rituals, and have been outlawed. I am trying to come up with a new ritual that hasn't been made illegal yet. That's the thing, the Ministry doesn't like putting blanket bans on things, so the outlaw each ritual individually. And if it isn't specifically named, it's legal. It's a big deal to have a ritual of yours banned by the Ministry. A badge of honor among ritual crafters. I'm close, I have the main components down but the order of the first two steps is still a little fuzzy"

"I assume fuzzy means high powered arithmetic projections come up indeterminate?"

"Yeah, and not in a way that suggests it doesn't matter. Arithmetic prediction is more of an art than a science, especially with as many variables as the ritual has"

"So, think you can figure it out?" Hermione looked thoughtful for a long moment, picking at her ice cream. She honestly didn't know if she could. A coven bond wasn't exactly the most difficult thing to ritually create, but it wasn't trivial either. A lot could go wrong with all the moving parts, but there where at least two rituals she knew worked. In theory there was another way, in practice? Who knew.

"Yeah, I do" she finally replied. "I have the main components identified, blood, parchment, sisters. Now it is a matter of bonding them together. It will take time, but I should have something by middle of September. It helps that I have a couple of previous rituals to base mine off of. That removes a large chunk of uncertainty in the models"

"And the ritual isn't dark or anything like that?" Harry asked.

"Not really, there isn't any sacrifice of creatures or anything like that. Blood is the bonding agent, and nobody gets any questionable powers either. It's pretty tame as far as rituals go"

"That's good, so you and Daphne" He continued.

"Oh, God. I've been talking to Ginny about her, and I cant say I have a clear answer, she's just so bloody confusing"

"How so?" Harry asked clearly intrigued.

"Well, at times she acts like she hates me, others like she wants to pull me into a broom closet and snog me senseless. I'm still not sure if that's appealing"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean I've been having some mildly erotic dreams seeming to feature her lately, but still, being a lesbian isn't something you go around flaunting in the Wizarding World"

"So this could hurt you even more socially?"

"Kinda, if it becomes public, Ginny says as long as people can politely ignore the fact they will. If they can't it can get vicious"

"Well I say if you are attracted to her and get the chance go for it" Harry commented. "Keep it quite and have fun. You could stand to loosen up a bit" Hermione could only nod at that, one more data point saying to give Daphne a try.

They finished their ice cream while discussing trivial matters, both trying to keep their mind off the nightmares that threatened them both, or the horrors they felt lay just around the next corner. They finished up and Hermione walked with Harry back to Number 4, before heading towards the bus station and her home. It was the first day since she found the Magical Collection that she spent less than 10 hours poring over the collected tomes, or working on derivations of the rituals found therein. It was good to take a day and relax. Good for both of them.


	5. Meeting the Greengrasses

**A/N: Round five this time.**

 **Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I appreciate the feedback, so far it has been mostly constructive, only one guest review that left me wondering what they where talking about. So thanks everyone.**

 **Again,** **If I owned any of the content you recognize I wouldn't be going to school. As I am still in school, I own nothing. And probably never will. J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and all associated characters.**

August 10, 1996 Greengrass House:

Daphne was nervous. No denying it. Hermione was coming over to spend the night. And that could cause issues. No, she knew her parents wouldn't have a problem with the Muggleborn girl, they knew how to recognize talent and opportunity. It wasn't that her sister was capable of being a royal prat at times. No it was her, and how she would react to the bushy haired bucktoothed girl that slowly under the radar made herself into a very attractive young woman. And how said lady would react if she put two and two together. Because she was smart enough to do that.

If it was another pureblood witch, she wouldn't have been as worried. They knew things like this happened and everyone was polite enough not to make a big deal of side arrangements everyone had. Or in this case, a friends with benefits situation. Nobody really cared as long as it didn't interfere with an heir coming along. Mind blowing sex was mind blowing sex, who cares exactly how you have it, for the most part. Don't flaunt anything and people act like it doesn't happen.

Muggleborn are slightly less enthusiastic about the entire arrangement, part of the reason why high society doesn't like them. The dislike, or hate, that purebloods have against Muggleborns comes down in large part to the inherent xenophobia cultures develop. Immigrants aren't one of us. Daphne hoped she could get Hermione on board with the entire culture switch, would make her goals a whole lot easier to reach having a good competent helper.

Well her goals after clearing up all of her familial obligations. Hopefully her father would pick someone decent for her to marry, not like that prick Draco. Daphne and Draco didn't exactly see eye to eye on a lot of issues. But if need be he does have some redeeming qualities, like money. But his helpers were the exact opposite of the kind of people she wanted on her side, more muscle than magic and unquestioningly loyal. Theo could be a good match, but his family was known to be a bit on the vicious side of things, so not exactly conducive to branching out, what with all the women are to be seen and not heard shit. She has spent sixteen years being the meek dutiful daughter, hell if she was going to be the meek dutiful wife for the rest of her life. Blaise's family was too fresh off the boat so to speak, his mom was born in Italy, so there was no offer there.

But she was definitely going to marry a Traditionalist, her father was too busy trying to shore up relations with them to marry her off to anyone else. The family farms had lost enough business with their apothecaries and other interests to ensure that a marriage to one of those families was happening.

Five minutes before Hermione was to arrive her mother swept into the room, elegant robes adorning her chiseled features. Daphne always thought that her mom looked more like a statue than a real live lady. Her ivory skin and silken hair paired with an impassive gaze to ensure that. But she was a caring woman in private, when polite niceties need not be observed. She settled on a chair next to Daphne.

"So this friend, Hermione is it, she is going to be your Mrs. Brown?" she asked. Mrs. Brown was her mom's playmate. Daphne always liked her mom just ever so slightly more after she visited. Daphne nodded.

"I hope so at least. I'm not quite sure how that conversation will go. She is a Muggleborn, so that's a potential issue getting started, but less political mess if it comes out publically later. Plus, she's smart, and having her close ensures that I can take advantage of that talent"

"So, you think she can help turn the family fortunes around? Give you a name yourself?" Daphne shrugged.

"I honestly don't quite know. I do know Hermione will be a major player in whatever happens in the next several years, assuming she survives that long, and better to keep her close than risk her turning against us"

"And her being a Muggleborn has nothing to do with it?"

"Maybe a little, but the Weasley twins hesitated when dealing with her" her mom raised an eye "I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it myself. Now granted she wasn't able to reign them in, but its more than most people outside of Professor McGonagall could have done" The doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of Hermione. They got up and walked to the front door to greet their guest, it was considered rude to have your house elf greet your guests.

Hermione was dressed in plain, well cut robes, keeping with her practical and efficient style. While not as fancy or elegant as some, they still managed to convey a sense of class, understated luxury. Daphne's mom was impressed, if she hadn't known it was a Muggleborn on her door she would have thought her from one of the newer pureblood families.

"Lady Greengrass, Miss Daphne, I thank you for the invitation" Hermione greeted the two with a small curtsey, in a polite, if maybe overly formal way. So she didn't speak like a pureblood, but at least made an effort and was polite, following the good rule of thumb that too polite was better than not polite enough. Except when dealing with goblins, the bastards.

"Hello, Miss Granger, it's good to see you, come in" Mrs. Greengrass insisted, showing Hermione into the side drawing room. They sat down and had a cup of tea while discussing trivialities such as classes and classmates. The kind of small talk Hermione didn't enjoy, but she grinned and muddled through it anyway. After a few minutes of conversation, Mrs. Greengrass left then alone, Hermione didn't miss the slight smirk on her face as she left. She looked at Daphne who wore a slightly more nervous expression.

"And what pray tell was that smirk about?" she asked Daphne with a slight glare, not enough for a McGonagall rating however.

Daphne stutter a bit before replying "Umm, the second thing I need to talk to you about, after the coven stuff" Daphne knew Hermione could tell she was nervous and hoped that she would just drop it and move on. Which mercifully she did. Daphne didn't know how she would have handled coven business after a bad reaction, and probably wouldn't really be paying attention after a good one.

"Alright, but you do owe me an explanation" She said, before moving on to the meat of the meeting.

They discussed a little about buy in from everyone, and possible back up options if one of them dropped out first. Daphne, Hermione, and Tracey were locked in. Padma and Susan were waiting on who the seventh member would be, having a conditional yes on Harry accepting. Su Li was still thinking it was all one big joke on her, but looked to be a yes if they got past that. Daphne had her end upheld. Hermione was still working on hers. The ritual was taking a lot longer than Daphne had predicted. Of course Hermione's estimate was more conservative, but still likely to ambitious.

"Ok so here's the deal with the ritual. I've cut it down to two main parts. First is a blood rune ritual, where each of us paint a rune, significant to us, on each of the others. Once that is done the ritual is completed by transferring blood onto the coven charter, basically how we all "sign" the charter" Hermione explained.

"What do we sign with? Blood Quill?" Hermione shook her head,

"No blood quill, right now it seems like a handprint of blood is the way it will be, but the ritual is still in the preliminary stages. But I need to lock down as many aspects as possible now so fewer variables are around to throw off the prediction methods I'm using"

"Isn't that a lot of blood?"

"The first one is, the handprint would be whatever's left after the rune deal. I'll know more as I get further along. Positioning of people and specific wording will be last, ritual preparation is the next step, hopefully done in a week"

"Entire thing done by the time we go back?" Hermione laughed at that.

"No, hopefully by the week after. All that should be left by then is detail work. Thankfully coven rituals are incredibly forgiving on the minor details. Major stuff can still backlash pretty horribly, but if minor things get tweaked nobody is going to die"

"Thankfully" They finished up discussing logistics of how they would get everyone together on the Express for final planning. Things were looking good for them to be able to complete the ritual before the Ministry started to force people into covens, Hermione knew she was going to be in the first or second coven formed.

"Alright, so ritual is tentatively planned for September 20th, you're going to give the planned ritual to the headmaster for a second check on the 9th, giving us time to change if that needs revisions. Tentative date for full walk through is the 15th. Wizengamot meets on the 16th, so look for the confirmation in the Prophet the next day"

"Four-day lag time practical? I mean can they get rosters out in less time?" Hermione asked. Daphne shook her head.

"All laws go into effect one week from passing. I'm also betting that there will still be negotiations ongoing about who exactly gets shoved where. I know my father has been in conversations about where I would be a good fit. There are at least three different families he's talked to, with another four or five that are rumored to be interested. I'll marry some slob for this family, but hell if I'm gonna join just any group of six witches sucking up to said slob for them"

"So that works, I've got a provisional charter as well, still needs a lot of work but prevents members of our coven from joining other covens. A fairly standard clause for charters" Hermione added, sliding a copy of the charter to Daphne. "Let everyone take a look at that, give feedback, make changes. Hopefully we can finalize it on the Express" That was the final piece of business they discussed before it was time to grab dinner.

Dinner was a simple affair, quite relaxed for purebloods hosting a guest. Not enough to be seen as a snub, but it was clear to all involved that the Greengrass family was not trying to impress and wow their guest. Astoria was her usual bubbly, outgoing self. She was also way to darn perceptive for her own good. She got in some good zingers on Daphne about the topic of their upcoming conversation, which Hermione was able to guess had to do with their relationship, fun times. Mr. Greengrass seemed distant, cool, almost cold. He never smiled during the meal, and often cast looks at Hermione, and none approaching approving. Mrs. Greengrass was reserved, but more open to Hermione.

Daphne was different than any of the other times Hermione had interacted with her. She was reserved, but in a different way than her Ice Queen persona, that was a distance from disdain, now it was as if she was afraid of stepping out of line. And she got more nervous as time went on. Finally, after the last dish was taken away Mr. Greengrass spoke.

"Daphne, why don't you show your guest to her room" Daphne nodded before turning and leaving the room. Hermione followed. After going several feet Daphne let out a sigh, relaxing minutely. She led the way to a small guest room, and after Hermione entered, closed the door before throwing up a silencing charm.

"One of those conversations eh?" Hermione quipped. Daphne nodded, taking a deep breath.

"So, this is going to sound real weird, but do you maybe want to go out with me?" She said in a rush, before blushing and looking intently at her shoes. Hermione found it cute, a side of Daphne she rarely got to see, the sweet caring girl hiding her insecurities from the world behind a mask of indifference. Hermione wanted to see more of that girl. There was also that tiny kernel of a crush, that may grow to something more, or may wither. So, with Ginny and Harry's advice in the back of her mind, she decided to take a chance, a blind leap of faith, not knowing what was at the bottom.

The kiss was quite frankly, terrible, but the potential was there. Daphne was caught completely off guard by the act and froze for a good few seconds before trying to reciprocate. She got into it at about the time Hermione needed to come up for air. Neither witch was particularly satisfied. It was a typical first kiss, neither party knowing what the other wants or thinks, a blind fumbling trying to figure out what works and not succeeding.

"Well, that isn't how the stories say it is" Hermione quipped. Throwing her arms over Daphne's shoulders.

"Yeah, you are quite frankly a terrible kisser" Daphne replied, grabbing on to Hermione's waist.

"Well they say practice makes perfect" Daphne just smiled at that. The next kiss was better, still not toe curling, or even good, but definitely not as bad.

"So I take that as a yes then?" Daphne said, smiling a goofy smile plaster on her face that made Hermione's heart flutter.

"I would say so. Let's see where this train wreck takes us shall we?"

"Let's" was all Daphne had to say in response.


	6. The Next Morning

**A/N: Little later than I wanted to update, but it's here now. More personally disappointing than anything else.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the recognizable characters or settings. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

August 11th 1996:

The next morning Hermione woke early and quickly got ready to face the day. She was going to spend the morning with Daphne before heading off to the Magical Collection yet again. She had a lot of work to get done before the Hogwarts Express left the station in two weeks. She walked down to the dining room where an informal breakfast had been laid out. Grabbing a couple of slices of toast and an apple, she sat down and started going over backlash scenarios for the ritual. When she started the process they were pretty gruesome, the worst looked to be some form of flaying alive followed by an acid bath, never a fun time. Now the worst case scenarios were more sedate, if no less lethal. And coven bonding rituals were supposed to be the tamest there were.

She thanked her lucky stars that Pettigrew was at the very least a competent direction follower. She shuddered to think what would have happened if he has screwed up the ritual. The most likely outcome would look like an atomic bomb blast, at least to those not directly involved. Drowning in feces is not how she would want to die.

"Whatcha looking at?" the overly bubbly voice of Astoria greeted her as the girl plopped down beside her.

"Ritual Backlash, pretty gruesome stuff" Hermione replied absently.

"How so? And what's backlash?" Came the response from the girl.

"Well rituals are a delicate balance of factors that have significance to the magic you are trying to perform. Now if that balance is disturbed, the magic doesn't flow right. That incorrect flow is manifested as backlash. Now that backlash can take many forms, all of them bad. If you're lucky you die, if you aren't well best not to think about it." Astoria looked a little pale at that.

"Is that why rituals are banned?"

"Somewhat, a lot of rituals are banned because they require human sacrifice, obviously Dark magic and barbaric, others got banned as part of ritual craft politics. You see at one point it was a big deal, a badge of honor if you will, to have your ritual banned by the Ministry, and so ritual crafters would petition the Wizengamot to ban their own ritual"

"So they weren't banned because of the backlash?"

"Nope, but that is why they aren't practiced anymore. Spells can do a lot of the same things rituals can do, but if you miscast a spell there isn't any backlash, or at least not lethal backlash" Hermione continued. "Spells are also quicker to perform and more flexible. But there are some things that spells can't do and a proper ritual can. Most spells are refinements of ancient rituals. But bondings are best done through rituals"

"Why is that?" Astoria asked, digging into her own breakfast.

"I'm not quite sure honestly. I think it has to do with the multiple people involved. But I don't know enough about bonds to give you a good answer"

"But don't you know everything? That's what the other kids in my year say. They call you a know it all" Hermione snorted at that. Her and being called a know it rarely went with good feelings.

"No I don't know everything, and I doubt that they are saying that in a good manner" Hermione responded.

"You annoying my guest Tori?" Daphne asked, walking in and grabbing herself something to eat.

"Would I do that?" Astoria asked innocently.

"Tracey" was all Daphne said in response. Astoria shut up quickly at that.

"There's a story behind that. What happened?" Hermione asked, intrigued.

"Oh, nothing, absolutely nothing" Astoria said just a little too quickly, clearly not wanting to discuss this topic.

"You were bugging her to get you some firewishkey" Daphne exclaimed.

"Yeah so?"

"You're too young, plus I've seen you after you've snuck some of Mom's wine. I don't want to see you after anything stronger"

"Spoilsport" Astoria pouted.

"So what have you two been talking about?"

"Ritual backlash and fun ways to die" Astoria answered, way to cheerful for the morbid topic.

"Are you corrupting my little sister Hermione?" Daphne asked, glaring at the other girl.

"Hmm, nope, no corruption here. And you need to work on that glare. I'd give it a 1.5. And just so you know anything below a 5 is ineffective on us Gryffindors" Daphne was taken aback at that.

"You have a rating system for glares? Seriously?"

"With McGonagall as our Head of House? Yes, we do. We also have one for scowls, based off of your Head of House. We like our ratings" Hermione defended, with a tone of offended seriousness. Daphne tried her best to hold back a laugh at the picture Hermione was making. She failed. Soon everyone was laughing even Hermione.

"Come on Hermione, let's take this somewhere calmer" Daphne said with a pointed look towards her sister. Hermione nodded, gathering up her papers. She grabbed another piece of toast before following Daphne out of the dining room and into the hall.

"We can use my room, there's a nice little study there. Probably a little bigger than what you're used to. If I recall correctly wizard homes tend to be a little bigger than muggle ones" Daphne said, as she led the way to her room.

"Well on average, and mainly because of space expansion charms. Some muggle homes can be absolutely ridiculous in terms of size. But those are only for the super-rich. And the Weasley's house is much more cramped than my own. Probably because we only have three people living there instead of nine, but still" Daphne nodded at that logic. She turned into a smartly decorated room, there were two doors leading out of the entry, and Daphne took the one on the left.

"The right one goes to my bedroom, one day maybe I'll show you that, but not today" Hermione was practically drowning in innuendo rolling off Daphne's offer to show her the bedroom.

They entered a small study room, with a desk, a small bookshelf holding previous year's textbooks, and a couple of comfy looking chairs. The room was tastefully decorated in green, with silver trim.

"I see you like your house colors" Hermione quipped, taking a seat as Daphne closed the door. Daphne smiled at that.

"I didn't decorate the room, but yes they are typical Slytherin colors. It could be worse, at least it isn't pink" Hermione cringed. Daphne noticed.

"Yeah, Umbridge kinda ruined pink for me. And to think when I was younger I liked pink"

"Really?" Daphne asked surprised "You never struck me as a pink girl" Hermione looked embarrassed

"Well when I was young I really liked the princess fantasy, and princesses wore pink. I also kinda got into the whole damsel in distress thing the telly had occasionally. Well until I realized that there was no knight in shining armor coming to save me. Then that got old real fast"

"Oh, really" Daphne said intrigued "And what if the knight was the one holding said damsel" Hermione shivered at the look in Daphne's eyes. Confidant Daphne was back with vengeance after disappearing last night. Her smile was also down right wicked.

"I...I'm not entirely sure. Why would my knight need to hold me?" Hermione responded uncertainly.

"Maybe because they think it's fun. And you look too cute tied up to let go free?"

"And would you be said knight?" Hermione asked, not totally repulsed by the idea. The setting would have to be just right though. But the bigger question in her mind was if she could trust Daphne enough to hand over that much power, and would Daphne make it fun for her as well? If she could it might be a good way to unwind, especially if there was a liberal amount of praise thrown in. She knew that she had a need for praise, in a sexy setting it might even be called a praise kink.

"If you want me to be" Daphne responded, hoping that Hermione would agree. Her mum definitely should have kept better track of those bondage magazines she found after second year. If she could just get Hermione to agree to be tied up.

"I'd have to think about it. I'm still not quite sure I am ready for something like that"

"Ok, is it the whole breaking rules thing?" Daphne asked. Hermione shook her head at that.

"No it's not that. It's just, I've been so used to having to be strong and in control that giving that control is scary. Appealing, but scary. If I'm thinking about what you're thinking trust is the major thing involved, and I'm not sure I trust anybody enough right now"

"Ok, I get it. We didn't exactly get off to the best start as friends did we?" Daphne responded.

"Yeah, blackmail tends to do that to a relationship" Hermione responded. "So, what appeals to you about tying up young innocent ladies like myself?" Daphne snorted a laugh at that

"You? Innocent? Please, I know about the Polyjuice in second year. I'd be doing the whole castle a favor keeping you tied down. But really I think it's the feeling of control. I haven't had that many chances to really have control of my life and if I can get some measure of that by topping, it's an avenue that I'd pursue. I could ask you the same thing you know" Hermione nodded, taking a deep breath.

"I think it comes back to my desire to please. I almost need affirmation that I'm worth it. It's the reason I try so hard in school; I need the teacher's praise. Same thing goes for following the rules"

"But you've broken countless rules. More than I have and I actively try and rebel" Daphne countered.

"Yeah, I know. And I'm not really all that proud of it, but affirmation from my friends is almost better than affirmation form authority figures. So I ignore the rules if I can get more praise from my friends. I'm not proud of how I act at times, but I have almost no self-confidence without it being propped up by others, either my friends or rules set down by others"

There was a long pause after that, both witches mentally contemplating the revelations made just then, trying to decide if they wanted to make another leap.

"So" Daphne started, "You aren't totally opposed to the idea of some bondage play?" Hermione shook her head.

"No, I'm willing to think about the possibility, but like I said, I'm not ready to make that jump just yet. I'm honestly scared about making that jump. I'd be opening myself up to the possibility of a lot of abuse. And I don't really have that great of history with peers and respecting me. I hope that you are different, but I can't make the jump yet. Hell, it took both Harry and Ginny to get me to admit I had a crush on you"

"Ok, I'll drop it. So how many other covens are trying to form up before the Ministry mandate? I've heard of only one, Pansy's. She's got Hannah, Lilly Moon, Pravati, and Millie so far. Still looking for another girl and a guy. She's opposed to Justin for some reason, I think he's a great bloke, and the rest of her group is pressing her"

"Justin's a muggleborn, probably wary of how he'll react. Muggles don't have any precedents for this. If Harry wasn't such an unassuming guy I'd worry about this going to his head as well. My advice would be to sit him down and let him know exactly what's going on. If he takes it well, go for it. If not cut your losses. He's dating Sally-Anne, so that's a potential sixth there as well"

"You seem to know an awful lot about what happens around the castle for a social pariah" Daphne remarked.

"Lav and Pravati. It's almost by osmosis that I know all this. Actually I think if she can pick up Lavender and Oliver Rivers it would be better. They both are part of the gossip network. That would give that coven an insane advantage in information brokering. And knowledge is power"

"I thought you didn't like Lavender and Pravati, calling them airheads at one-point last year" Daphne pressed.

"I don't like wasted potential. Those girls could run the Hogwarts information network, and really e the go to source of information on the castle, yet they spend more time on makeup than doing that. I'm also kinda jealous at the ease of which they accrue that info. I mean I spent hours in the library and leant one or two new tidbits. They have a half hour lunch and know everything that ever happened" Daphne laughed at Hermione's rant about her roommates.

"I'll let Pansy know. She always wanted to be in charge of the rumor mill in Hogwarts, but they seemed to lock down that spot fairly early first year and never let go"

"Tell me about it. I've been caught up in the events causing that rise since day one"

"So Pansy and company are going to be the information queens of the castle, what are we going to try and be?" Daphne asked seriously. Hermione fixed her with a look.

"Two Ravens, a smart Slytherin, Tracey and Susan aren't stupid either. Add that to the castle know it all, what do you think?" Daphne's face morphed into a grin.

"Are we going to break the laws of magic?"

"That's Harry's job. No, I'm thinking of setting up a tutoring service. Be the source of help for those who need extra assistance"

"Harry gets stuck with Defense?"

"After the DA? You better believe it. Best Defense teacher we had, and he wasn't paid for it either" Daphne smiled at that.

"Well, you weren't so bad of a teacher yourself" Hermione blushed. "So you still thinking about wasting your life working for the Ministry on house elfs?" Hermione hung her head. Daphne had laughed at her when she first revealed that she wanted to get a job in the Ministry promoting house elf rights.

"I don't really know anymore. You made some good arguments, but I can't just do nothing about it"

"No, you can't, but you'll make a bigger impact as a teacher, or leading researcher. You're smart enough for either, and you'll be able to spread your message further in those positions. Face it, one Ministry worker doesn't make any difference. Now a Charms teacher at Hogwarts, or world renowned spell crafter? People listen to them. Blood status means less than nothing to anyone in those positions"

"Why Charms?" Hermione asked.

"Good Luck getting McGonagall or Dumbledore to retire, Flitwick has been thinking about it since the tournament, also Umbridge and the Ministry have made it hard on him. He might see private tutoring as a better option. The Defense position is cursed, and while you might be able to break it it's not worth the risk. And Snape will continue teaching potions until there are no more dunderheads to intimidate. I swear he gets off on the fear of little firsties" Hermione snorted at that.

"He is a terrible teacher at times. Definitely knows his stuff, but horrible at passing along that knowledge. He's a big reason why I don't like Potions more. There are some fascinating aspects of the art, but I can't really study it without thinking of the class"

"It is a shame. So, we're going to try and make a name for ourselves as teachers? Kinda hard with the quality of actual teachers"

"You and Tracey are top flight in Potions, and everyone knows about Harry and defense, that takes care of the worst classes. I figured I could help with essays and stuff like that. There is plenty of stuff that people could use tutoring for but simply won't or can't go to a teacher for. It'll be a good set-up for post Hogwarts. Becoming experts is never a bad thing. We could set up a consulting service even" Daphne laughed as Hermione continued rambling on, coming up possible plans in detail of about five minutes. She finally shut her up with a kiss.

"I think we should get everyone else on board before we go to in depth with the planning" Daphne said. Hermione pouted.

"Okay, I guess that works. Do you know the time? I'm supposed to meet the Weasley's at 11:30" Daphne pointed to a clock behind Hermione's head, an amused smile playing at the corner of her lips.

"Oh" it was 11:15. "Well I should get ready to go then. Mind if I use the floo? Or should I take the Night Bus?" Daphne smiled.

"Use the floo. I hate that damn bus. And here, take this" She said, handing Hermione a sealed folder "I'd advise you to open that while alone though" Daphne added, as Hermione turned to gather up her stuff. Hermione turned a cute shade of red at that in Daphne's opinion. Ten minutes later, after thanking her hosts Hermione took a small handful of floo powder and called out

"The Burrow" before stepping into the flames and vanishing to the Weasley's.


	7. The Burrow

**A/N: So I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend. Watching the 100th running of the Indy 500, and there is some history there, regardless of weather or not you like racing there are some amazing stories in the human element.**

 **Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

Hermione stumbled slightly, but not to bad as she exited the floo at the Weasley's. Ginny was sitting in front of the fireplace with a book in her lap. She looked up as she heard the floo sound off.

"Oh, hey Hermione. We weren't expecting you to floo in. I didn't think you had access to a floo"

"Oh, I came from Daphne's house and she let me use her floo. We had some business to discuss" At the last part Ginny's face lit up.

"The romantic kind I trust?"

"You think parchment exploding is romantic?" Ginny was taken aback, confused "We were discussing the formation of a coven ahead of the Ministry law expected in September"

"Oh" Ginny deflated slightly "I was hoping it was about what you had sent me letters about"

"Well, there was a tangent or two in that area, but that wasn't why I was there"

"Darn, anything juicy happen" Ginny asked. Hermione just smiled mysteriously.

"Now that would be telling. Come on, where are the boys?"

"Out back de-gnomeing the garden. Don't know what's taking them so long. I swear if they're playing Quidditch" Ginny trailed off, as they headed out back. The air was warm under the hot August sun as they entered the backyard. Ginny growled as she saw Harry and Ron flying over the Quidditch pitch. "I thought I told those gits to get me if they were going to fly today, obviously they couldn't be bothered" she told Hermione darkly before raising her voice.

"Oi, what's the deal. I thought I told you to come get me if you were going to go flying!"

Ron and Harry flew down and landed next to the girls, sheepish grins on their faces.

"Real mature guys" Hermione said as Ginny tore into them, understandably upset about not being invited.

"Heh, sorry Gin, thought you were still cleaning the kitchen" Harry explained "I thought you were coming out when you were done" Ron didn't even try and defend himself. Probably a good thing when dealing with an irate Ginny.

Hermione was starting to see the Ginny that her brothers knew before her first year, the spirited passionate witch with a nasty streak when offended. It was natural that after as horrific a year she had that it would take a year or two before she fully dealt with the memories and feelings. Last year Hermione felt that Ginny had finally turned a corner. Hermione wished she could turn that same corner.

Ginny continued to berate the hapless teens as they walked back into the house. The smell of Molly Weasley's cooking filling their noses as they entered the kitchen. One thing about visiting the Weaselys was that there was always plenty of good food. Something that was lacking in Hermione's recent diet of leftovers and takeout. Hermione was sure that if the Wizarding World had such thing as a celebrity chef, Molly Weasely could fill that role admirably.

"Hello, Hermione, I didn't see you arrive. I trust the Night Bus wasn't too hard a ride" Molly greeted her.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley, thank you. I came by floo. I was over at a friend's house going over some things before school and used their floo. Faster and more comfortable than the Night Bus. I swear that driver has a death wish" Molly was taken aback by this, she didn't know Hermione had friends with floo access, but didn't raise the issue, at the moment.

"Ginny, why don't you show Hermione up to your room. Ron, Harry get washed up lunch will be done in just a moment"

"That was a dismissal if I ever heard one" Ginny muttered to Hermione as she led the way up to her room "We're rooming together just like last time" Hermione dropped her bag off at the foot of the spare bed that was in Ginny's room.

"So, those two been total prats, or not?" Hermione asked, turning to face Ginny.

"Well Harry's only been here a week, but things have been better since he showed up. It got kind of quite without the Twins around. I actually did homework I was so bored"

"I take it Ron hasn't gotten his done yet?"

"Hasn't even started. Too busy flying. Harry said he had his done and he has helped me a little. So that's good. I haven't put my arm in an inkwell either, so that's progress I guess"

"Good for him. And good for you. He'll come around eventually. He can be thick skulled at times. His explanations make sense? I know I sometimes can't make heads or tails of them, but he gets them"

"Mostly, if not I can muddle through"

"Well, I'll walk you through if you can stand the lecture" They both shared a small chuckle at that.

"Well you have gotten better about that since my second year" Ginny responded

"I try. So you still with Dean?"

"Yes, I've written him a bit, but he seems distracted by some new law that is getting pushed pretty hard. I haven't heard much about it, something to do with covens"

"Yup, the new Coven Law. I hear it's going to pass the September session. You just barely miss the cutoff fortunately. I don't think it will survive until you are roped in"

"And this is a bad thing because why? Ron seemed to be quite enthusiastic, seems to think this bill will net him six girlfriends"

"Why that ignorant prat!" Hermione spat. "This is about covens, not bloody harems. They're totally different. This isn't going to fix his problems with asking girls out for him. Might actually make it worse. And a good coven wizard doesn't make a good boyfriend and vice versa. Business partners, not romantic trysts" Ginny leaned up against the door frame, smirk on her face as she listened to Hermione rant about the difference between covens and harems.

"Come on, lunch should be ready by now and you can lay into Ron in person" Ginny broke off her rant after a few minutes. Reluctantly Hermione quit ranting and followed Ginny back down to the kitchen, where food was already laid out. Hermione grabbed a seat across from Ron, while Ginny took a seat to her left, across from Harry. After a few minutes of eating Ron piped up

"So, where were you that had a floo Hermione?"

"Daphne's house" came the curt reply, she was till finishing up lunch and did not particularly care for Ron's sometimes justified, sometimes overblown prejudice against Slytherins.

"But she's a Slytherin"

"So?" she replied.

"So she did blackmail you into teaching her Defense" Harry cut in, silencing Ron's ready retort.

"Only for the first month"

"See, she's corrupting you!" Ron argued, Harry and Ginny shared a look.

"Well if she is corrupting poor innocent Hermione" Ginny began, drawing a snort from Harry and a glare from Hermione.

"I'd say Hermione wants her to" Harry finished with a wink. Ginny's look of interest told her that she wasn't going to be able to wiggle out of an explanation later.

"We were discussing coven stuff ahead of the upcoming law" Hermione protested, cheeks turning slightly red at the reasons behind her visit implied by those two.

"What is there to discuss, the law passes and the Ministry assigns you a coven. Simple, no worries" Ron insisted.

"Ron, think for a second, the Ministry is creating these covens, who for the last year has had it out for us?" A look of horror crossed Ron's face as he finally comprehended how bad this could be.

"I don't suppose you have an open slot do you?" He asked finally. Harry shook his head.

"No from what I hear she put your name out there and it was shot down faster than Malfoy's"

"Oi, that git? What's he got that I don't?"

"I'd say an emotional range greater than a teaspoon" Ginny retorted.

"Well they chose Harry, don't ask me why. Tracey said something about getting close to the quote 'Chosen One'. Seriously I don't think they know what they are getting into" Hermione supplied. "Oh, what did you think of those name Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't have any major problems with them. Never talked with Su Li though. I've haven't worked with really any of them either"

"Stupid House borders" Ginny muttered, clearly annoyed at losing touch with her first friend Luna.

"I know, but they're all smart and driven. I don't think we will have problems. I expect we will have to stay together for a year at most. Past that I think the law will be so unpopular it will fall apart"

"So that's your grand plan? Form a coven for a year? Seems like a lot of work for nothing" Ron remarked.

"Well better a year with people I know than a year with those I don't. Plus, by forming the coven we can write our own rules on how it is run, as opposed to taking our chances with the Ministry"

"Yeah and she's gotten good at blackmail too. Must be taking lessons from Daphne" Harry said.

"Maybe multiple lessons" Ginny added with a wink. Hermione just glared at them.

"I think you need lessons with Harry" She told Ginny. Ginny's face did make an effort to match the color of her hair.

"But isn't she with Dean?" Harry asked confused.

"Never mind that" Hermione interrupted "Take a look at this charter as well. We'll be discussing and finalizing changes on the Express, so that's your deadline"

They soon finished their meal and broke apart. Harry, Ginny and Ron went outside and played Quidditch until dinner time, while Hermione found a comfortable spot under an apple tree and continued making refinements to her ritual.

She was working on details, today was dedicated to what color every element would be. Thankfully red was an appropriate color for blood ritualistically, or things would have gotten tricky. As it was she was still going to have to find green beeswax candles. Luckily the ritual robes, in this case light thin dresses, were white and quite easy to find, especially since muggle stores sold them by the dozen. White chalk was to be used marking the ritual area, figuring out what shape that would take, and any runes marked was a project for another day.

The boys and Ginny collected Hermione when it was time for dinner, Hermione having lost track of the time as she often did when working through a difficult task. Dinner was a subdued affair for the Weasley household, seeing as the Twins weren't around to cause mischief, but Harry and Ginny din their best to tease Hermione about Daphne. Hermione gave as good as she got with Ginny though, just skirting the edge of announcing that she had a crush on Harry. Harry of course was mildly oblivious to this; he was kind of clueless about the right kind of girl for him.

After dinner things got even more interesting for Hermione. She had just came from the bathroom when she walked in on a furiously blushing Ginny. Then she noticed what Ginny was holding.

"Why do you have the folder Daphne gave me?" She asked.

"Well it was just sitting there and it looked interesting. What were you thinking just leaving it lying there?"

"I didn't know what was in there. I thought it was boring stuff. Based on your blush I was wrong" Hermione responded, grabbing the folder from Ginny's hands. It took her a few seconds to process the pictures in the folder, but when she did, her face rivaled the color of Ginny's hair.

Each picture held a separate scene of Hermione and Daphne acting out various bondage scenarios. While the background was a little blurry and nondescript you could clearly see what Daphne wanted to do with Hermione. Hermione sputtered for a bit, trying to come up with something reasonable to say.

"I take it you wouldn't be opposed to doing that with Daphne?" Ginny asked, after getting over her initial shock. Still blushing at the thought of her and Harry as opposed to Hermione and Daphne.

"I'm not quite sure yet" came the hesitant response.

"Well, why not? It could be fun you know?"

"But if it isn't" came Hermione's somewhat frantic reply.

"Then you both move on; not like she has blackmail material or anything like that" came the flippant retort. Hermione paled at that thought, remembering how she and Daphne came to know each other. "Besides these kind of flings are almost expected from witches looking at marriage contracts, and telling about them is taboo"

"So you think I should just go for it? Have a little fun?"

"Yeah, you need to lighten up a lot. This might help"

"You are insufferable" Hermione sighed. "How's this. I'll get serious about Daphne's offer when you start flirting with Harry. And don't give me that look. I know you aren't totally sold on Dean"

"Fine, be that way" came Ginny's petulant response as she slipped into bed, turning off the lights. Hermione stood there for an extra minute composing herself, before following Ginny's lead.

Hermione stayed up late that night, engrossed in the pictures Daphne had given her. She had a lot to think about, and not much time to think about it.


	8. Unspeakable

**A/N:**

 **Sorry for the delay, this chapter was a late addition that I came up with after I posted the last chapter and was a PITA to write but I felt that it needed to be done. Life happens you know.**

 **If anyone has any constructive feedback on how I can improve this steaming pile of you know what, the story not my life I have enough life advice as is, shoot me a review or PM or whatever.**

 **To all the Dads out there Happy Father's Day, for everybody else make sure and wish your dad a happy Father's Day.**

 **So at this pace you should be able to expect the next update to be on July 4th, cause that fits I guess.**

 **All Standard Disclaimers apply.**

Theo Olden walked into the bland conference room on level seven of the Ministry of Magic. Technically he wasn't needed for this meeting but his boss asked him to be there to provide his opinion on the topic. They were going over the current plans to implement the proposed coven law, given its seemingly high probability of passing. Covens meant rituals, at least one per coven and He was the Ministry expert in dealing with rituals. Twelve years working in the Department of Mysteries looking into the dissuaded art had made him one of the foremost experts in the field. It was his job to prevent the higher ups from doing anything stupid because they just didn't know.

He saw Delores Umbridge already in the room, smug expression on her face. The rumors he heard about her last days at Hogwarts must not have been true, as she was to self-sure to have gone through all that. She was one of the most annoying people to work with, thankfully he didn't have to deal with her too often. But her presence told him that it was going to be one of those meetings, where it was better to just not go.

"Oh, hello there. Can I help you find where you need to be going?" Umbridge's sickly sweet voice greeted him, he had to fight off a scowl at her presumption that he was lost, he'd been working at the Ministry for longer than she had. He sat down and flipped through his papers until he got to a page with half solved equations before responding.

"Well if this is where everyone is getting together to talk about the coven bill then no, but if you're waiting on another meeting let me know" He focused on his work, things starting to take shape but at the same time still not certain.

"I didn't see you on the attended list. I thought this was for Ministry leadership, and if I recall correctly you are not in that group"

"No, but Croaker is and he told me to be here so here I am. Trust me I'm no happier to be here than you. I actually got stuff I need to accomplish but I'm here waiting for a meeting to begin" he never took his eyes off his work as he talked. Umbridge's retort was cut off by the arrival of Amelia Bones and Saul Croaker. Theo looked up and tipped his head in acknowledgment, before finishing up his writing.

"So, you think you can alter the Trace that was in place during the last war?" Amelia asked Croaker.

"We should, it was never taken down, no one was monitoring the alerts anymore. I expect that soon they will however" Croaker responded.

"Amelia, glad to see you back up. Any truth to the rumors?" Theo asked, putting his work away and pulling out some blank parchment.

"Thanks Theo, and it depends on the rumors. If you want to know if He was there, yes he was"

"Potter's description accurate?"

"Wasn't really paying that much attention but yes for the most part"

"Well glad you survived, not too many like you out there" Further conversation was cut off as the rest of the attendees filtered in. The last person into the room was Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, albeit a lame duck minister. Fudge got the meeting started by turning to Amelia and asking point blank.

"Is this even legal, I mean covens! really they've been banned for centuries"

"Well currently there are no laws on the books prohibiting covens from forming, just regulating what they can do" She answered calmly.

"And all know rituals to for a coven have been banned as of 1955" Theo pipped in.

"So this law forces people to break the law?" The Head of the Department of Magical Transportation asked. Everyone was split between looking at Amelia and Theo. Theo shrugged before answering.

"Nothing in the law says you can't make a new ritual. I wouldn't recommend that as you'll probably kill yourself but it's possible"

"Can you make one?" Croaker asked.

"Yeah, it'll take me a month or two but a derivative of the La Fey Coven ritual shouldn't be too hard"

"Hem Hem" Umbridge spoke up, interrupting everyone's train of thought "La Fey, as in Morgana La Fey?"

"Yeah, so?" Theo answered with a shrug.

"The darkest witch to ever defile our land? A witch worse than You-Know-Who?"

"The most successful and respected Western Ritual crafter? Say what you will about her other actions she knew her rituals. Her coven ritual is regarded as one of the best ever created, we are one of three countries to ban that particular ritual, mostly for political reasons" Theo defended his choice.

"We'll deal with the specifics of the ritual at a later date. I'll also see if I can get the Wizengamot to repeal the ban on at least one coven ritual when they pass this law" Croaker interrupted the budding argument before it could get to heated.

"So, Delores, you said you had coven rosters to look over?" Fudge asked, snapping Umbridge out of her glaring. She straightened herself out and started passing out lists to the attendees. Croaker slid his list over to Theo when he saw that Umbridge had passed him by. Almost immediately his quill was moving, making marks next to lists at a furious pace, much faster than anyone else. The other people in the room soon stopped looking over their lists and looked at Theo. Eventually Croaker elbowed Theo to get him to look up.

"What?" He responded with a start, looking up at the others staring at him.

"Did you have anything to say about the proposed rosters Mister Olden? You were taking an awful lot of notes" Umbridge asked, having trouble hiding her scorn.

"Well just that whoever put them together must either be incompetent or want a lot of people to die. I'll be generous and go with the former" Umbridge bristled at the implications of his statement.

"What makes you say that; they seem perfectly reasonable to me"

"Well no offense but based off the particulars of the coven ritual these rosters guarantee that ritual backlash will occur. Nobody wants to live with those consequences of that, if you live at all"

"For the uninitiated of the group, namely everyone, care to explain what the hell ritual backlash is and why these rosters will cause it" Amelia asked, looking just as lost as the others except for Croaker and Umbridge. Croaker worked with Theo and so had some frame of reference, while Umbridge looked like someone had put something foul in her tea.

"Rituals are a way of channeling wild magic, magic that doesn't flow through a witch of wizard. Now the ritual is crafted to focus that magic in a specific way, and if you have the wrong ritual, or don't execute the ritual correctly that magic doesn't flow right and releases uncontrollable, with unfortunate consequences. With me so far?" Theo paused to look around the room, most were nodding in understanding.

"So for a coven ritual it is based upon the combining and binding of six mage cores to a central core of a different type, get that balance wrong and backlash occurs"

"So what is a mage core? I've never heard of it" Fudge asked.

"Well as of right now it's just a theory, but basically it's how witches and wizards take wild magic and channel it for spell casting"

"So like a reservoir of magic?"

"Less reservoir and more like a pipe. I don't know how you can tell the different types of core or anything like that but apparently it is closely related to sex. Anyway long story short historically six witches one wizard or the reverse of that has been how covens historically have been formed"

"So these rosters need to be updated" Amelia asked to clarify.

"That's what I'm saying, yes. I doubt that I'll be able to make a ritual that works with these rosters"

"Aren't you the leading ritual crafter in wizarding England?" Umbridge asked pointedly.

"I'm a ritual crafter, not a miracle worker" Theo snapped back. The tension between those two was getting palpable now.

"So, ultimately what do we have to do so that we all don't look like idiots in a month when we need to implement this thing the Wizengamot is going to pass" Amelia cut in, trying to diffuse the situation between the Senior Undersecretary and Master Ritual Crafter before hexes started flying.

"Theo needs to make the ritual, we need updated rosters, and a plan to get hundreds of coven rituals performed. I don't know how we are going to do it" The Head of Magical Creatures replied.

"I'll start the ritual; Saul can you lean on the Wizengamot to unban a coven ritual as a backup plan" Theo answered. "It'll be close but with a couple of long nights I might have something in time"

"Delores can update the rosters. She did good work with the first draft" Fudge answered. Several people had to suppress a snort at that.

"And I can have the Wizengamot Administration Service deal with implementation. Not like they have too much on their plate now anyway. And it's their job to clean up the Wizengamot messes" Amelia replied uncharacteristically harsh.

"Has anyone tried to talk them out of this fiasco waiting to happen? I mean implanting this is looking to be a logistical nightmare and will reflect badly on us if things don't go perfect" Croaker asked.

"Plus the fact that I expect about ten percent of rituals to backlash" Theo added, when everyone gave him weird looks he added "That's just the historical rate of ritual failures. It's higher with people who've never done one before"

"Ok, that's good to know" Fudge said clearly troubled by that. "But to answer your question Saul, yes I have been in talks with the Wizengamot about this, and well, they haven't been going well. It seems like they all just ignore what I'm saying"

"Emler Darcy is especially bad. This whole idea is his baby and he's pushing it hard" Umbridge added.

"Darcy? Isn't he the crazy Traditionalist? Called You-Know-Who a progressive during the last war?"

"Hum hum" Umbridge murmured. "Despises the Ministry as well"

Croaker let out a sigh "I hate politics. But I guess I'll go talk to the man, see if I can get him to see sense about this. Maybe back it down so that only the ones we think can survive go through it"

"Or better yet try and turn his focus onto legalizing some of the more useful and safe rituals that have been banned. Seems to me this whole push is trying to popularize rituals again" Theo supplied.

"Good thing or bad thing?" Bones asked Theo.

"double edged sword really. Rituals have their place, but for most things spells can cut it, but rituals are impressive and you get a sense of the power behind magic that you rarely get with wand work. You can't go through a ritual and not come away with a sense that you are tiny in comparison the magic being worked. It's a humbling experience, one that I don't think we have enough of. But they are dangerous and not to be messed around with, cause if you do you're as good as dead before you even start"

"Exactly the kind of thing we want untrained and reluctant teens to be doing" Someone chimed in.

"Can you make the ritual safe?" Bones asked as the meeting broke up and the attendees went their separate ways. Theo just raised an eye at that suggestion. "Oh right, stupid question"


	9. The Hogwarts Express

**A/N: Happy 4th of July to everyone in the U.S. of A. Don't be like me and do stupid stuff with explosives. So here is the next chapter. Chapter after that will probably be the next major US holiday in all likely hood. I'm hoping it's sooner but odds don't look good.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but you knew that from the first several chapters.**

King's Cross Station: September 1st 1996

Hermione, Harry and the Weasley's slipped onto Platform 9&3/4 with little fanfare. As usual they where running late, it was already 10:55. Hermione waited impatiently while the Weasley's said their goodbyes. Not that she resented them, she was just worried that the train would depart without them. It had happened once before in 2nd year, so not an entirely unfounded concern. Plus, she wanted to get settled in before the Perfect's meeting and the coven meeting right afterwards.

"Go on Hermione, get us a compartment" Ron urged her, picking up on her restlessness. Hermione nodded her thanks, picking up her trunk and boarding the Express.

She found a relatively uncrowded compartment, Luna was the only occupant at the moment, though she thought that she saw Neville's trunk in there as well, and asked if she could join.

"Certainly, I think we have room for four more, that is if you don't mind getting cozy" Luna replied.

"Thanks, I'm actually going to be spending most of the ride in meetings and I don't think dragging my trunk to them would be a good idea"

"You are going to be forming your own coven correct. And you are designing the ritual? Rituals are messy business. But I believe that you know what you are doing"

"Thanks Luna" Hermione replied, then noticing that she wasn't reading the Quibbler as usual she asked "What are you reading?"

"Oh, this old thing? Just an old book on summoning rituals. Would you mind taking a look at one for me please?" Luna asked, wide innocent eyes breaking down Hermione's reluctance.

"Okay, fine. I'll have a look" She agreed reluctantly, summoning rituals had a reputation for being Dark and messy. There was a million and one ways a summoning ritual could go wrong. Quick thinking and a calm head were needed for the summoner to get through alive.

Luna handed over the book. Hermione did a quick scan for anything obviously wrong, she wasn't an expert on rituals by any stretch of the imagination, just what passed for one in modern Wizarding England. After confirming that there was nothing blatantly wrong with the ritual she looked at the goal and context for the ritual. She turned white as a sheet halfway though.

"Luna, for the love of all that is good, never even think about that ritual again" Hermione demanded, although the effectiveness was lessened by the shudder that ran through her halfway through. Why would Luna, who by all accounts was a sweet, if odd, girl, want to summon a Lovecraftian Horror? Hermione had tried to read Lovecraft in the summer between 4th and 5th year but for once the booklover could not get through one of his works.

"Okay, if you say so" Luna agreed, oblivious to Hermione's obvious distress.

Hermione sat down shakily, as Luna took back her book and went back to happily reading, albeit on a different page. She was still a little pale when Harry and Ron joined her a few minutes later.

"Oi, you don't look so good Hermione, you gonna be sick?" Ron asked, leaving a little extra room between them as he sat down.

"Yeah, I'm fine, nothing you should worry about" Harry smirked as he read over Luna's shoulder, getting an idea of what upset his friend.

"So you have no problem with Lovecraftian horrors? Huh, I thought the fictional idea of them turned you off reading for a week. Saved half a dozen books from meeting their untimely demise in the process as well" He said with a smile.

"Prat" Hermione responded, wanting to throw something at Harry but lacking anything good to throw. Such is life at times.

"What's a Lovecraftian horror?" Ron asked, having never been exposed to that facet of muggle literature, or muggle literature in general. Okay make that literature not pertaining to school or sports.

"Trust me, you are better off not knowing" Hermione replied, cutting off Harry who was about to elaborate. For some reason he seemed to like those kind of books.

"I'll give you some books about them when we get settled" Harry replied, Hermione just rolled her eyes at that.

They lapsed into a companionable silence for a few minutes before an unexpected visitor interrupted them. Padma Patil poked her head into the compartment.

"Hey, Hermione, you got a minute before the perfect's meeting?" she asked. Hermione nodded, getting up to go with her.

"So, what's up?"

"Not much, just wanted to know how the ritual is coming along" Padma said, clearly nervous about the entire deal. "Plus Su is still doubting that this isn't all a joke" Padma looked a bit ashamed "We didn't exactly get off to the best start"

"I can try to talk to her before the actual meeting starts, but I have to be honest I'm not the best person for this. You know my reputation" Hermione replied. Padma smiled at that.

"Which might help in this case, you wouldn't do something just to make fun of another student"

"Ok, sounds good to me. Might be a start for me. Where is she sitting?"

"Follow me" Padma replied, leading Hermione forward and pointed out a compartment. Su was the only person in there. She was reading a book on dueling, lost in her own little world.

"I'll leave you two to it. Good luck Hermione" Padma said as she turned to head out. Hermione nodded to her as she knocked on the door of the compartment. Su Li looked up, startled out of her concentration. She wore a puzzled look as she opened the door to allow Hermione in.

"What's up?" Su asked, puzzled at Hermione's appearance, they hadn't spoken a total of ten words to each other in five years at Hogwarts.

"Padma said you were having trouble believing the entire coven business. I take it there is something more than the reported fear of a prank?" Hermione opened. Su started to deny but then stopped, shaking her head.

"No, I won't deny it. I have" She trailed off, searching for the right thing to say. "I guess my social interactions with people haven't been the best so far"

Hermione came fully in the compartment, seeing her unease. She shut the compartment door and cast a series of privacy charms on the door. Su nodded in recognition.

"Thanks. I guess I've always been pushed to be perfect, and any time spent socializing and making friends was seen as a waste. That combined with a family culture of being seen and not heard, at least for women and children, and I don't think I would fit in" Su continued, pacing nervously as much as she could in the cramped compartment. She was clearly uncomfortable interacting with Hermione.

"Now would be a good time to find out for sure then. I know it's uncomfortable, but that's when you grow. And I think you have so much to show the rest of us. You're the scariest duelist among the students. I could learn a lot from you on Charms"

This brought Su up short. She gave Hermione an incredulous look.

"Really? I mean you're the brightest witch in our age, everyone says so. I don't think I could ever hope to match you on anything"

Hermione snorted at that. She shook her head. Professor Lupin should never have made that offhand remark back in third year. The Hogwarts rumor mill never ceased to amaze her, as there was nobody that would have taken that remark seriously present either.

"Please, that was one offhand remark during a stressful situation. Professor Lupin never meant it like I was some sort of all-knowing resource. There is plenty I still have to learn. I'm still wondering how that got out too"

Su nodded at that before taking a deep breath and continuing "So I guess you are serious about this. But why me, and not some other girl?"

Hermione shrugged at that " I don't really know. Daphne compiled the list. I just wrote up the charter and made the ritual. Here's a draft of the charter by the way. Let me know if you have any ideas"

Su nodded, accepting the parchment. There was a knock on the door just then, Padma poked her head into the window and caught Hermione's eye. She then jerked her head to the side as if to say 'Let's go'. Hermione acknowledged the other witch before turning to Su.

"Sorry I have to go, Perfect's meeting is about to start. I'll see you at the coven meeting?"

"I'll be there. I guess" Su replied. "Meeting Compartment B?"

"Yup. I'll see you then" Hermione said, exiting the compartment and joined up with Padma.

"So, she in?"

"I got her to at least come to the meeting. I don't think she's entirely sold on the entire idea but she's not a no anymore"

"Good. I worry about her sometimes. She makes you seem downright sociable. And you have what three friends?"

"Four thank you very much" came Hermione's indignant reply. The act was broken by both of them cracking up as she tried to maintain that expression.

"But you're right. I do need to get more friends"

"So Compartment B eh, you reserving the room?"

"Nope Daph is handling that. She does logistics I do technical. It works ok I guess"

"So this ritual you're proposing we use, why isn't it banned again? I thought all rituals were?"

"It's a new one, the Ministry can't officially ban a ritual until it has been done once. I made this one up. Granted I still have a lot of fine tuning to do"

"But there have been coven rituals before, so why aren't we using one of those, besides the whole illegal Dark Arts aspect? Cause I am totally down with breaking the law if it means doing a tested instead of untested ritual. Mum told me horror stories of rituals back in India"

"Well I found two, both of which I don't want to do because of some, unfortunate side effects" Padma gave her a gesture encouraging her to continue.

"One creates a sorta soul bond effect, like over time we would all lose who we are and which body we belong in kinda deal" Padma grimaced at that. "The other binds all our life forces together, basically if one of us dies we all die"

Padma nodded at that. "Ok, no go on those two rituals, any others?"

"Vague descriptions, nothing complete. I'm patching the components of several together to make ours. I'm drawing heavily from Morgana's works, those which I can access"

"Morgana La fey, the infamous Dark Witch?"

"The same, she was a world class ritual crafter. You familiar with muggle physics?"

"The basics"

"Well Morgana is to Western rituals as Newton if to physics. Most of the rituals we know about today are derivatives from her work. Unfortunately, most of her direct works have been lost, with only snippets remaining. Apparently her coven ritual was especially well regarded"

"Well, ok I guess. As long as it works"

"I hope so. I'm going to have Professor Dumbledore look over it before we actually do it just in case"

"Well, if you need a hand on any of this just let me know. I may not devour books like you do but I'm not hopeless in the research department either"

"God you are so much better than your sister"

"You know it" Padma replied with a grin. They approached the compartment where the perfect's meeting was being held.

"Theo, not Draco. Interesting. Wonder why Draco's not a Perfect anymore, and why Theo got the role. Very out of character for either of them" Padma remarked.

Hermione just nodded. Draco was the outspoken king of the Slytherin underclassmen, fully at home in the spotlight. Theo on the other hand was a more reserved presence, if no less a credit to his house. Hermione personally didn't know Theo, but the gossip about him painted him as an average student, with a knack for problem solving and long term planning. Him and Draco weren't seen together often outside of the Slytherin common room, but rumor had it that Theo was Draco's top advisers. If sixteen year olds could have advisors.

"Well, shall we see what's going on this year?" Padma asked.

"Why not, although I don't see Ron anywhere"

"He might be inside already, if he was aware enough to be early" Ron was not already inside, although he did get there before the meeting started.

The meeting was pretty much the same as last years, going over the rules, handing out schedules, the basic logistical necessities of organizing a group of 24 teenagers. Hermione and Ron had the first patrol, while Padma was on the second.

After a relatively boring half hour meeting, the perfects broke up and the patrols began. After a routine hour long patrol, notable only in its quietness Hermione and Ron parted ways.

"I've got some things I need to do before the coven meeting in a hour. I'll meet you back at the compartment after that's over" Hermione said, turning to head off to Compartment B.

"Alright, be careful around those Snakes though, I don't trust em" came his reply.

Hermione waved her wand in front of him. "Trust, but have an exit plan"

"Alright, good luck. I'll send Harry by sometime" And with that they went their separate ways, Ron back to the compartment, Hermione to her final meeting preparations.


	10. The Meeting

**A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating. No idea what updating schedule is going to be like from here on out for anything. Starting junior year of engineering school, which is the worst one by far. I'll update when I remember/get any sort of free time.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the right to Harry Potter and make no money off of my writing this.**

Hermione made her way quickly to Compartment B after her scheduled patrol was over. Daphne and Tracey were already inside, waiting for her. She closed the door behind her and set her bag down on a nearby chair. Daphne came over to her.

"You ready for this? I mean all our work this summer comes down to this one meeting. If somebody backs out" she trailed off.

"Relax" Hermione insisted, grabbing Daphne's arms and holding them still. "You'll do great. Su Li was the toughest sell and I already talked to her before the Perfect's Meeting" Tracey coughed politely.

"Should I give you two some privacy or did somebody forget to tell me I was chaperone"

"Tracey" Daphne exclaimed, as they broke apart, blushing furiously. Tracey just wore a victorious grin on her face.

"What? I don't want to see you two snog each other senseless. And you had that look on your face Daph"

"Anyway" Hermione tried changing the subject. "Tracey is in for sure, you are in, I am as well. Padma is sympathetic at least. Susan you know how she'll react. And Su Li is now willing to hear us out. So breathe, you got this. I believe in you" Tracey made gagging motions in the background.

"To thick?" Hermione asked the room.

"Yeah, you could swim in the sickly sweetness" Tracey put in. Daphne only smiled, tension easing out of her posture.

"I liked it. It was nice"

"Ok, one question, who's bringing the Firewiskey" The three of them turned to see who had come in unannounced. It was Susan. They all gave her an incredulous stare.

"What? These kind of things need some liquid courage to make them more palatable"

"No, I get that, just didn't peg you as the type Suze" Tracey remarked, showing a flask. "I only got a little, and I'm saving this for later" Daphne looked like she was going to say something but was cut off by Susan.

"Fine, I get that, but Suze? Really?"

Tracey shrugged "Well, there already is a Su, and having two Sues might be confusing"

"And is there anything wrong with Susan?"

Tracey shrugged again, "Not really"

While those two bickered about Tracey's choice in nicknames Hermione leaned over to Daphne and asked

"What was that look you gave Tracey about?"

"Trace's family is big in the spirits business. Not as much as Ogden's but with more variety. She supplied all the house parties last year. Had a whole hidden compartment full of the stuff"

"They make anything I would know?"

"Not really, big seller is firewhiskey but also a lot of smaller experimental stuff. It's good just a niche market. People stick with firewhiskey for the most part"

"You'll have to get me some then" Hermione remarked, drawing a shocked look from Daphne.

"Hermione Granger wanting a drink, underage to boot. Be still my beating heart"

"Prat. You're almost as bad as Harry at times you know. And I will have a drink or two, I just make a point never to get drunk in public"

Daphne laughed, pulling Hermione into a hug. "I know that silly. But it is to much fun to to pick on you sometimes"

Their tender moment that followed was harshly interrupted by Tracey pulling them apart.

"Ok, enough lovebirds, save it for when I'm not around"

Grumbling they set to work finishing up the last minute details for the meeting, making sure all the handouts were there, they knew who would talk first and so on. Su Li arrived a few minutes later and wasn't noticed until a few minutes after that. Tracey scolded Daphne for that, then proceed to chat up the shy girl, making her uncomfortable at first, but she relaxed over time.

Daphne took to pacing while they waited for Padma and Harry to show up so they could get started. Hermione looked over her notes on the ritual, continuing to nail down color, shape and time for various parts of the ritual. The candle lighting was giving her the most trouble now. Tracey, Susan and Su spent the time getting to know each other better. Susan had briefly looked over what Hermione was working on but quickly decided that it was to technical for her and went back to hanging out with Tracey not long after that.

Finally, about an hour and ten minutes after Hermione arrived in the compartment, Padama came in dragging a reluctant Harry behind her.

"Somebody is thrilled to be here" Tracey snarked.

"Well forgive me for rather hanging out with friends than complete strangers thank you very much. And Snakes to boot as well"

The two Slytherins in the room protested that last part, while Padma shook her head.

"Hey if I have to deal with a Puff, you can deal with them" She turned to Susan, "You are way to damn friendly you know?"

"Ah, you gotta love Ravenclaws, way to easy to rile up. Almost as much fun as Gryffs" Susan shot back playfully.

"Come on guys, let's get focused so Harry doesn't have to spend any more time around us Snakes than absolutely necessary" Daphne cut in.

"I say he's been spending to much time around Ron though" Tracey added/

"Hey! What's wrong with Ron? He's a great guy" Harry defended his friend.

"Well other than his deep seated prejudice against my House?" Tracey responded bitterly.

"Can we please move on from all this interhouse bickering? It was old after second year" Hermione interrupted, feeling quite irritated.

They settled down a little after that, but it was still a tenser atmosphere than either Hermione or Daphne would have preferred.

"So, let's start off with going over the ritual" Susan chimed in "What ritual are we doing, cause last I heard all coven rituals were banned a century ago"

"Hermione made one. If you look in the packet there should be a description" Daphne answered.

"You mean the small book? I am not reading all that, got a summary?" Tracey responded, holding up a large packet of papers, held together by a sticking charm, as muggle staples weren't able to hold it together.

"Yeah Hermione, this is a little excessive even for you" Harry added.

"Ok fine, here's the short version then. Ritual will take place in a ritual circle, there's a picture on page 15, the charter will be placed under a lighted candle in the center. When the ritual starts we enter the circle and draw a rune in our own blood on each other. Then once that is complete we use the excess blood to make a handprint on the charter. The ritual concludes with us pouring candle wax over the charter, to seal the bonding. Overall a very simple ritual"

The others looked at her incredulously. Padma was the first to speak.

"So you needed, what was it" she flipped through the packet "30 pages to tell us what you did in five sentences?"

Hermione looked down, embarrassed. Harry and Daphne shared a knowing look.

"Well there are figures and calculations and how I got to the ritual there" Hermione defended halfheartedly.

"I don't care who you got there, I only care if it works, will it?" Tracey demanded.

"I think so, but I'm not a ritual expert. I'm going to have Professor Dumbledore look over it when we get to Hogwarts" came Hermione's response.

"So how are we going to get all this blood, cutting charm?" everyone turned to look as Su spoke up for the first time, her quite voice somehow cutting through and carrying more weight than what seemed possible.

"Ritual knife, I was thinking a cut on the palm would work"

"And what separates a ritual knife from a regular knife? And why not a cutting charm?"

"If we use cutting charms the magic of the charm will interact with the magic of the ritual, and that interaction is unpredictable, and I don't want to take that chance. As for the knife, I don't know. I think it may be something to do with the forging process, or maybe there are special runes on the handle. But I think there is a difference" Hermione replied.

"Just find out before we actually do the ritual" Hermione nodded at that.

"So, what's this charter thingy, any details?" Susan asked.

"It's the single sheet of paper filled with legalese hidden behind Hermione's book" Tracey replied.

"Oh, that thing. Confusing as hell, but at the same time a lot more manageable than I was expecting"

"I think it's ok, but I'm a little confused on the fourth section. What exactly does it mean, are we the only members ever, or what?" Padma inquired.

"It's actually a fairly standard coven clause, of the charters I looked at over 90% of them had similar wording. I updated the wording a bit for more modern times but it says that if you are a member of our coven then that is the only coven you can be a part of. Adding new members is in the seventh section" Daphne replied, Hermione may have written the first draft, but this version was hers.

"Okay, I get that. I am still a little wary of the secrecy clause though, what does that mean again? 'Hold our sister's secrets as our own'?" Susan spoke up.

"Basically don't betray each other's secrets. If you wouldn't divulge it about you, don't do it with a fellow coven member" Came Daphne's reply.

"Ok the sister thing threw me"

"Members of a coven are called coven sisters. It's wording basically"

"So looks okay to me, I mean there is an amendment clause in there right? Section ten I think. So if we decide later that we don't like something then we can always change it right?" Padma reasoned.

"Right, but this is the easiest time to change though. So if there is anything glaring, we need to address it here and now, as opposed to pushing it off until later"

"I think we need to schedule regular times where we all just hang out. If not this whole thing could come apart. Call it team building or something like that" Su spoke up again. She seemed to be coming out of her shell. But it was clear to all that she would never speak often.

Harry groaned at that suggestion. The last thing he wanted to do was to be forced to hang out with a group of Hermione's friends on a regular basis. Hermione was a good friend, but hanging out with her regularly without Ron was mindnumbingly dull. And the Slytherins in the group didn't bode to be much better company.

Unfortunately for Harry the others seemed to like the idea and he was out voted 5-2, with Tracey being the only one who sided with him. Not that he argued that hard for his case, discretion is sometimes the better part of valor, and in this case it was.

"So, do we actually have to do anything or is this just going to be one big party?" He asked after the decision was made.

Nobody in the compartment missed the look that Daphne shot Tracey, or her response. "Hey don't look at me. I only got enough stock for one or two parties. I'm not the Weasley twins. Never could figure out how they never seemed to run out of supplies"

"That's good to know Tracey, but I think the better question is not will we have a bunch of crazy parties, but rather what are we expecting out of this coven" Padma answered.

"Well what can we do? I mean none of us are experts at anything, and our skills are more general than specialized. I vote for parties" Susan said.

"I agree with our lack of focused talents but full time parties might hinder our studies" Hermione spoke up at the suggestion.

"Aww, come on Bushy, it'll be fun" Harry quipped, before hastily diving behind Su to avoid a flurry of hexes from Hermione. Everyone else dove out of the way as well.

"Harry" Hermione growled, "What have we said about that nickname?"

"But it's not public!" Harry defended. "What I want to know is what Tracey has to do with parties?"

"Ok, let's drop it. We have more important things to worry about" Daphne cut in, trying to get everyone back on track. "Call Hermione names at your own risk, that applies to everybody else as well. And as to the relevant question of what our coven will do I say tutoring" Hermione still grumbled and shot a subdued Harry nasty looks, while the rest of the group warily checked themselves over to see if they were hit by any stray hexes.

"Tutoring? Are you serious Daph? You've seen my grades" Tracey supplied.

"Yes and you know Potions. Don't argue, I've seen you work" Daphne cut off her objections.

"I can see that, we all aren't stupid, and Hermione could probably teach Transfiguration to the lower years" Susan supplied.

"And Harry taught NEWT level Defense last year" Padma continued.

"Don't remind me" Harry groaned. While the DA was fun for him at times it was a whole lot of extra stress and work in an already stressful year.

"But anyway it could work. And I mean it's not life or death if we just do nothing for the first couple of years anyway. Odds are that this whole thing will just blow over. If not we can always decide later after we graduate" Daphne continued.

"Ok, but I'm still going to set up a tutoring service anyway" Hermione declared. "If only because it will help me open up a bit. Feel free to give me a hand if you feel capable"

"Sounds good to me. Any other pressing business before we all go our separate ways?" Daphne asked the group.

Nobody had anything that they could think of so everyone dispersed back to the groups they were sitting with before they came to the meeting, all getting ready for another interesting year at Hogwarts.


End file.
